From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-ID: <0988d9b431d13319ae9cad80dc30c8c7@terzarima.net>
From: Charles Forsyth <forsyth@terzarima.net>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:23:54 +0000
To: 9fans@9fans.net
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.2.00.1101141146130.30015@fryrpg-zna>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Re: [9fans] Plan9 topology
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 988fcf56-ead6-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025

> Am I close?

a Plan 9 "file server" is just a program that responds to the 9P protocol described
in section 5 of the manual. (there is library support for writing a file server.)
a file server can provide a service other than conventional data storage: consider
rio, the plan 9 window system, and acme, a user interface for programmers.
some file servers are more conventional: 9660srv for access to storage in ISO9660 format,
and notably fossil and venti.

typically many file servers can run on one host, each providing a different
aspect of an application program's run-time environment, but some services might
(optionally) be given dedicated machines, such as venti and fossil.