NAME
Sys::Filesystem - Retrieve list of filesystems and their properties
SYNOPSIS
use strict;
use Sys::Filesystem ();
# Method 1
my $fs = new Sys::Filesystem;
my @filesystems = $fs->filesystems();
for (@filesystems) {
printf("%s is a %s filesystem mounted on %s\n",
$fs->mount_point($_),
$fs->format($_),
$fs->device($_)
);
}
# Method 2
my $weird_fs = Sys::Filesystem->new(
fstab => "/etc/weird/vfstab.conf",
mtab => "/etc/active_mounts",
xtab => "/etc/nfs/mounts"
);
my @weird_filesystems = $weird_fs->filesystems();
# Method 3 (nice but naughty)
my @filesystems = Sys::Filesystem->filesystems();
DESCRIPTION
Sys::Filesystem is intended to be a portable interface to list and query
filesystem names and their properties. At the time of writing there were
only Solaris and Win32 modules available on CPAN to perform this kind of
operation. This module hopes to provide a consistant API to list all,
mounted, unmounted and special filesystems on a system, and query as
many properties as possible with common aliases wherever possible.
METHODS
new()
Creates a new Sys::Filesystem object. new() accepts 3 optional key
pair values to help or force where mount information is gathered
from. These values are not otherwise defaulted by the main
Sys::Filesystem object, but left to the platform specific helper
modules to determine as an exercise of common sense.
fstab
Specify the full path and filename of the filesystem table (or
fstab for short).
mtab
Specify the full path and filename of the mounted filesystem
table (or mtab for short). Not all platforms have such a file
and so this option may be ignored on some systems.
xtab
Specify the full path and filename of the mounted NFS filesystem
table (or xtab for short). This is usually only pertinant to
Unix bases systems. Not all helper modules will query NFS mounts
as a seperate exercise, and therefore this option may be ignored
on some systems.
Listing Filesystems
filesystems()
Returns a list of all filesystem. May accept an optional list of key
pair values in order to filter/restrict the results which are
returned. Valid values are as follows:
device => "string"
Returns only filesystems that are mounted using the device of
"string". For example:
my $fdd_filesytem = Sys::Filesystem->filesystems(device => "/dev/fd0");
mounted => 1
Returns only filesystems which can be confirmed as actively
mounted. (Filesystems which are mounted).
The mounted_filesystems() method is an alias for this syntax.
unmounted => 1
Returns only filesystems which cannot be confirmed as actively
mounted. (Filesystems which are not mounted).
The unmounted_filesystems() method is an alias for this syntax.
special => 1
Returns only filesystems which are regarded as special in some
way. A filesystem is marked as special by the operating specific
helper module. For example, a tmpfs type filesystem on one
operating system might be regarded as a special filesystem, but
not on others. Consult the documentation of the operating system
specific helper module for further information about your
system. (Sys::Filesystem::Linux for Linux or
Sys::Filesystem::Solaris for Solaris etc).
The special_filesystems() method is an alias for this syntax.
regular => undef
Returns only fileystems which are not regarded as special.
(Normal filesystems).
The regular_filesystems() method is an alias for this syntax.
mounted_filesystems()
Returns a list of all filesystems which can be verified as currently
being mounted.
unmounted_filesystems()
Returns a list of all filesystems which cannot be verified as
currently being mounted.
special_filesystems()
Returns a list of all fileystems which are considered special. This
will usually contain meta and swap partitions like /proc and
/dev/shm on Linux.
regular_filesystems()
Returns a list of all filesystems which are not considered to be
special.
Filesystem Properties
Available filesystem properties and their names vary wildly between
platforms. Common aliases have been provided wherever possible. You
should check the documentation of the specific platform helper module to
list all of the properties which are available for that platform. For
example, read the Sys::Filesystem::Linux documentation for a list of all
filesystem properties available to query under Linux.
mount_point() or filesystem()
Returns the friendly name of the filesystem. This will usually be
the same name as appears in the list returned by the filesystems()
method.
mounted()
Returns boolean true if the filesystem is mounted.
label()
Returns the fileystem label.
This functionality may need to be retrofitted to some original OS
specific helper modules as of Sys::Filesystem 1.12.
volume()
Returns the volume that the filesystem belongs to or is mounted on.
This functionality may need to be retrofitted to some original OS
specific helper modules as of Sys::Filesystem 1.12.
device()
Returns the physical device that the filesystem is connected to.
special()
Returns boolean true if the filesystem type is considered "special".
type() or format()
Returns the type of filesystem format. fat32, ntfs, ufs, hpfs, ext3,
xfs etc.
options()
Returns the options that the filesystem was mounted with. This may
commonly contain information such as read-write, user and group
settings and permissions.
mount_order()
Returns the order in which this filesystem should be mounted on
boot.
check_order()
Returns the order in which this filesystem should be consistancy
checked on boot.
check_frequency()
Returns how often this filesystem is checked for consistancy.
OS SPECIFIC HELPER MODULES
Dummy
The Dummy module is there to provide a default failover result to the
main Sys::Filesystem module if no suitable platform specific module can
be found or sucessfully loaded. This is the last module to be tried, in
order of platform, Unix (if not on Win32), and then Dummy.
Unix
The Unix module is intended to provide a "best guess" failover result to
the main Sys::Filesystem module if no suitable platform specific module
can be found, and the platform is not 'MSWin32'.
This module requires additional work to improve it's guestimation
abilities.
Darwin
Frist written by Christian Renz <crenz@web42.com>.
Win32
This isn't written yet. It's on the top of the (very slow) TODO list.
AIX
Please be aware that the AIX /etc/filesystems file has both a "type" and
"vfs" field. The "type" field should not be confused with the filesystem
format/type (that is stored in the "vfs" field). You may wish to use the
"format" field when querying for filesystem types, since it is aliased
to be more reliable accross different platforms.
Other
Linux, Solaris, Cygwin, FreeBSD.
OS Identifiers
The following list is taken from perlport. Please refer to the original
source for the most up to date version. This information should help
anyone who wishes to write a helper module for a new platform. Modules
should have the same name as ^O in title caps. Thus 'openbsd' becomes
'Openbsd.pm'.
TODO
Add support for Windows, FreeBSD, HP-UX and Tru64. Please contact me if
you would like to provide code for these operating systems.
SEE ALSO
perlport, Solaris::DeviceTree, Win32::DriveInfo
VERSION
$Id: Filesystem.pm 574 2006-06-01 19:02:44Z nicolaw $
AUTHOR
Nicola Worthington <nicolaw@cpan.org>
<http://perlgirl.org.uk>
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
See CREDITS in the distribution tarball.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004,2005,2006 Nicola Worthington.
This software is licensed under The Apache Software License, Version
2.0.
<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>