FileStore - Local Storage for Files

The FileStore is an abstraction used to refer to any underlying system or device that Filecoin will store its data to. It is based on Unix filesystem semantics, and includes the notion of Paths. This abstraction is here in order to make sure Filecoin implementations make it easy for end-users to replace the underlying storage system with whatever suits their needs. The simplest version of FileStore is just the host operating system's file system.

Varying user needs

Filecoin user needs vary significantly, and many users -- especially miners -- will implement complex storage architectures underneath and around Filecoin. The FileStore abstraction is here to make it easy for these varying needs to be easy to satisfy. All file and sector local data storage in the Filecoin Protocol is defined in terms of this FileStore interface, which makes it easy for implementations to make swappable, and for end-users to swap out with their system of choice.

Implementation examples

The FileStore interface may be implemented by many kinds of backing data storage systems. For example:

• The host Operating System file system

• Any Unix/Posix file system

• RAID-backed file systems

• Networked of distributed file systems (NFS, HDFS, etc)

• IPFS

• Databases

• NAS systems

• Raw serial or block devices

• Raw hard drives (hdd sectors, etc)

Implementations SHOULD implement support for the host OS file system. Implementations MAY implement support for other storage systems.