bcn@cs.washington.edu (Clifford Neuman) (06/14/91)
I have had several requests for more information about Prospero. Here
is a quick summary.
The Prospero file system supports a user centered view of files
scattered across the Internet. It can be used to organize references
to files as if they were on your local system without the need to
physically move them. Prospero allows users to create virtual
systems, which are customized views of the files available from the
network. Tools are provided to help users construct views in terms of
other views. Prospero's flexibility allows information to be
organized in many ways.
Prospero supports multiple access methods. Once a file has been
identified, the Prospero library identifies an access method shared by
the two systems (if one exists). It then uses that method to access
the file. Presently supported are NFS, the Andrew File System, local
file access, and for reads, anonymous FTP (the file is first
retrieved, then opened). The ability to directly open files named
through Prospero means that it is straightforward to open files on
remote sites found by querying the Archie database through Prospero.
Prospero is presently implemented as a library that is linked with
applications. No kernel modifications are required, though a kernel
implementation is planned. Prospero is running on more than 75
systems in 8 countries on three continents.
As indicated in an earlier message, the Prospero release can be
obtained from cs.washington.edu in the file /pub/prospero.tar.Z (368 blocks).
Papers, reports, and documentation on Prospero are available from the
directory /pub/prospero/pfs/doc.
Announcements of new pieces of the system are made on the mailing list
info-prospero@isi.edu. To be added, send mail to info-prospero-request.
~ Cliff
PS: There is a new version of the standalone Archie client available.
The new version supports sorting by date, and allows a one line per
match output option that is suitable for reading by shell scripts.
The update is available from pub/pfs/files/prog.tar.Z on cs.washington.edu.
The Prospero library is required to compile it.