winfsp/winfsp

Features

• Custom User-Space File Systems - Implements a proxy architecture to create custom file systems that run entirely in user space.
• Kernel-to-User Bridges - Intercepts filesystem I/O requests in the kernel and forwards them to a user-space process for processing.
• User-Space File System Development - Implements a framework for creating custom file systems that run in user space and appear as standard drives.
• User-Mode Virtual Disks - Builds proxy systems that expose a user-mode interface for managing files and directories without kernel code.
• Virtual Drive Emulation - Creates user-mode filesystems that appear as standard disk drives to the operating system.
• Cloud Storage Integrations - Maps remote APIs or cloud storage to the local file system as native disk drives.
• Asynchronous I/O Libraries - Processes file read and write requests asynchronously to maximize data throughput and responsiveness.
• User-Space Implementations - Implements filesystem logic in user space via a proxy that simulates a native volume.
• File System Request Routing - Forwards file system API requests from an originating process to a user-mode process and returns the response.
• Filesystem Semantics Adherence - Ensures that user-mode filesystems behave according to standard operating system filesystem semantics.
• FUSE Implementations - Implements a FUSE compatibility layer that maps standard FUSE API calls to native Windows file system requests.
• File System Operations - Handles essential filesystem lifecycle tasks including creating, opening, closing, renaming, and overwriting files.
• File Storage and Metadata Management - Manages extended attributes, named streams, and reparse points to support complex filesystem structures.
• Filesystem Standard Compliance - Validates that custom file systems behave like native volumes to ensure compatibility with standard operating system applications.
• Language Bindings - Provides language bindings for Go, Java, Python, and Rust to implement filesystem logic in user space.
• Distributed Locks - Implements standard and opportunistic locks to coordinate data access across multiple system processes.
• Remote File System Mounts - Maps remote APIs and cloud storage to the local filesystem as standard disk drives.
• Network File Sharing - Registers volume devices to present custom file systems as native network shares.
• Hybrid Kernel-User Drivers - Allows developing a file system as a kernel driver that interfaces with a frontend driver for complex I/O.
• Non-Blocking I/O Interfaces - Utilizes a non-blocking transactional queue to retrieve and complete I/O request packets.
• Background Service Hosting - Wraps user-mode file systems into local background services for automated lifecycle management.
• Disk and Mount Management - Presents custom file systems as local disk volumes on the host operating system.
• I/O Packet Processing - Retrieves preprocessed requests from a queue and returns responses to complete original I/O packets.
• File Security Descriptor Management - Manages security descriptors and access control lists to perform native OS access checks.
• File System Drivers - Enables building high-performance file system drivers that interface directly with the Windows kernel.
• Kernel Driver Implementation - Enables building file system drivers directly within the kernel for high-performance requirements.
• Reparse Point Mappings - Represents POSIX-specific objects like sockets and pipes using Windows reparse points.
• Inter-Process Communication - Enables data exchange between client and service processes using a file system interface as the communication mechanism.
• Pipe-Based Communication - Uses named pipes and a dedicated service to manage the lifecycle and control of user-mode filesystem instances.
• Native API Bridges - Provides interfaces for managing file and directory operations using native Windows, FUSE, and Cygwin APIs.
• Hardware Architecture Support - Provides native support for ARM64 environments while maintaining compatibility with previous hardware architectures.
• Shell Extensions - Connects user-mode file systems with the operating system shell for consistent behavior in the file explorer.
• File System Attributes - Retrieves and updates OS-level properties such as timestamps, file sizes, and allocation attributes.
• System Services - Deploys the file system as a background service to provide system-wide access across all security contexts.
• Windows System Metadata Handling - Handles advanced Windows-specific filesystem features including alternate data streams and volume labels.
• Access Control Lists - Implements access control lists to restrict or grant permissions for files and directories.
• I/O Request Queuing - Retrieves and completes I/O request packets asynchronously via a non-blocking transactional queue.
• Service Instance Lifecycle Management - Controls multiple instances of console executables using a dedicated service and named pipe interface.
• File System Mocking - Provides an in-memory reference implementation to simulate and verify that custom filesystem logic handles standard operations correctly.

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