movemetafs movemetafs is a searchable filesystem metadata store for Linux.
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filesystem filesystem in userspace searchable filesystem metadata store movemetafs searchable

movemetafs Description

movemetafs is a searchable filesystem metadata store for Linux. movemetafs is a searchable filesystem metadata store for Linux that lets users tag local files (including image, video, audio, and text files) by simply moving the files to a special folder using any file manager.It also lets users find files by tags using a boolean search query. The original files (and their names) are kept intact. movemetafs doesn't have its own user interface, but it is usable with any file manager.In the name `movemetafs', `metafs' means filesystem metadata store, and 'move' refers to the most common way tags are added or removed: the user moves the file to be acted on to the `meta/tag/$TAGNAME' or`meta/untag/$TAGNAME' special folder. When the target folder is such a special folder, the file is not removed from its original location (meta/root/**/*).movemetafs is similar to LAFS (http://junk.nocrew.org/~stefan/lafs/)(not tagji 1.1 by Manuel Arriaga). Most important differences:· movemetafs uses MySQL instead of PostgreSQL (benefits: speedup, easier installation with pts-mysql-local).· movemetafs doesn't require files to be explicitly added.· movemetafs cannot list all untagged files quickly.· movemetafs is written in Perl, so it is quite easy to extend and try out new features.· movemetafs continues to work when files are renamed.· movemetafs works with files with more than one hard link.Here are some key features of "movemetafs":· Use any file manager to tag files: move the file to the `meta/tag/$TAGNAME' or `meta/tagged/$TAGNAME' folder. The file is not removed from its original folder.· Use any file manager to untag files: move the file to the `meta/untag/$TAGNAME'. The file is not removed from its original folder.· Specify search query by changing to the invisible `meta/search/$QUERYSTRING' folder. Results are symbolic links into `meta/root'.· If you want to search for only a single tag, list the folder `meta/tagged/$TAGNAME'. Results are symbolic links into `meta/root'.· Alternatively, you untag a file by removing the symlink `meta/tagged/$TAGNAME/$FILENAME'.· Alternatively, use POSIX extended attributes to retrieve (or even set) the tags associated to a file.· Attach textual descriptions to files, and read the description once the file is found.· Use POSIX extended attributes to get and set the textual description of a file.· Create a recursive POSIX extended attribute dump (of tags and descriptions) from the database very quickly.· Restore the created POSIX extended attribute dump with `setfattr --restore'.· Use versatile search query syntax (MySQL fulltext search) with the possiblity of boolean search (i.e. searching for files matching a combination of tags).· Copy search results to make backups or to create collections.· Searching is fast, because it uses a fulltext index.· After installation, movemetafs can be used on an existing filesystem instantly: there is no migration needed to make an existing filesystem usable with movemetafs: data doesn't have to be copied, moved, touched etc.· Untagged files don't have any negative effect on the speed of movemetafs, even if the filesystem contains millions of files.· movemetafs nicely survives a system crash: non-cache data is stored in MySQL InnoDB tables (which use journaling), and even if the whole tag database is lost, the original filesystem remains usable without movemetafs.· Stores tags in twice: once in a fulltext indexed column in a MyISAM table, and once in an InnoDB relational table. Uses the fast MyISAM table for searches, and the InnoDB table for data recovery.· Treats file names as opaque 8-bit strings, thus it works with any filesystem character set, even when character sets are mixed in the middle of the filename.· Uses UTF-8 for tag names and descriptions.· Filenames in search results are automatically made unique when necessary.· Following the Unix filesystem design, files with multiple hard links share a commond description and a common set of tags. If tags or the description are changed on one name, the changes also apply to other names, too.Requirements:· operating system capable of running FUSE (currently Linux and FreeBSD, movemetafs is tested only on Linux >=2.6.18)· Root privileges are required for some installation steps, but not for usage. movemetafs is just as safe as FUSE itself in a multiuser environment.· the FUSE libraries >=2.6.1 (/usr/lib/libfuse.so.?) and header files (/usr/include/fuse.h) (e.g. `apt-get install libfuse-dev' on Debian Sarge). Please note that fuse-2.6.0_rc1 is buggy (e.g. rename() always returns 0).· Perl >=5.8· the Fuse Perl module (install with `cpan Fuse' as root)· MySQL server >=4.1 (you don't have to change your existing MySQL server configuration if you use pts-mysql-local). movemetafs is being tested with MySQL server 5.1. Please let me know if it doesn't work with 5.0 or 4.1. Earlier versions of MySQL are not supported by movemetafs.· a recent MySQL client library (such as /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.*) and headers (such as /usr/include/mysql/mysql.h) (e.g. `apt-get install libmysqlclient15-dev' on Debian Sarge)· the DBD::mysql Perl module· the FUSE kernel module loaded (e.g. `modprobe fuse' as root on Linux)Limitations:· cannot cross filesystem boundaries. This means that tags cannot be added to (or removed from) files not on the carrier filesystem (--root-prefix=). No other restrictions are present when accessing `meta/root'.· alpha software, ready for local use only· cannot cross filesystem boundaries· doesn't survive a mkfs + rsync migration· tags are lost when the file is copied (use md5sums?)· no large file support (maximum file size is 2GB limitation of the Fuse Perl module)· works only with systems with FUSE support (such as Linux)· stale tags are not removed automatically· installation and user documentation is incomplete· not easy to install (i.e. with package)· no multiuser support yet (i.e. users cannot share their tags)· only one containing foldr is displayed for search results· search result symlink might be stale (i.e. it may not point to the correct target file) if the file has been moved outside the control of movemetafs· FUSE is a little slower than other layers such as Unionfs or Relayfs· Perl Fuse.pm is a little slower than writing a Fuse module in C· no logic structuring (such as taxonomy, thesaurus or ontology) and inference· For files with multiple (hard) links, symlinks in search results point to only one of filenames (usually the oldest) the other filenames are not stored by movemetafs.· For files with multiple (hard) links, the principal name cannot be easily removed. (But it can be changed.)· Original POSIX extended attributes and ACLs are not mirrorred.· Searching is much faster than tagging and untagging.· Tags cannot be multiple levels deep (i.e. contain `/').· File descriptions are not searchable.

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