man(1) Manual page archive


     NAMESPACE(4)                                         NAMESPACE(4)

     NAME
          namespace, ons - octopus name space and conventions

     DESCRIPTION
          In the octopus, there are several name space conventions and
          programs rely on them. This manual page documents such
          conventions.  Besides, depending on where the namespace is
          used, it is sensible to adhere to Inferno or to the host OS
          (eg. Plan 9) conventions as well.

          The script ons adjusts the Inferno name space to adhere the
          octopus conventions.

          There are several name spaces of interest, depending on
          where the application executes (or where are we browsing
          files from). Most times, applications and browsed files
          belong to the host system of the PC (eg., Plan 9). The next
          subsection documents such name space. A following section
          documents the name space as found on the Inferno running at
          the PC.

        PC Name space
          This section assumens the PC host system is Plan 9 from Bell
          Labs. Adjustment of name spaces in other native host systems
          is not yet supported, although it will be in the future.

          Most conventions of Plan 9 name spaces hold, like using /bin
          for binaries and /usr for user files.  The following files
          and directories are also available when using the PC from
          the Octopus:

          /dev/snarf           The clipboard. Usually it is an actual
                               file at bound to along with the next
                               file.
          /dev/sel             contains the path for the (user inter-
                               face) panel where a selection was last
                               made. The file is kept at
                               $home/lib/snarf/sel or a similar place
                               and bound to /dev like before.
          /mnt                 contains directories where different
                               resources added to the PC can be found.
          /mnt/ui              contains the file system interface for
                               the Octopus window system, Omero. See
                               omero(4) for a description.
          /mnt/ports           contains a directory providing the
                               event delivery mechanism used by the
                               Octopus.
          /mnt/view            is a file viewer device. To view a file
                               (e.g., a PDF) it suffices to copy it to
                               this directory. A document viewer at a

     NAMESPACE(4)                                         NAMESPACE(4)

                               terminal near the user (probably one at
                               the terminal being used to request the
                               copy) will be launched as a result of
                               the copy.
          /mnt/view/ndb        is a text file describing properties of
                               the view device. Among other things it
                               describes the location of the device
                               and the terminal providing it.
          /mnt/print           is a printing device. To print a file,
                               copy it to this directory. The file
                               will be printed at the default printer
                               queue provided by a terminal near the
                               user.
          /mnt/print/ndb       describes the print device. All devices
                               include an ndb file by convention
                               (although we will not mention it fur-
                               ther).
          /mnt/print/voice     is a voice synthesis device. To speak
                               some text, copy it to the speak file it
                               provides. As all other devices mounted
                               at /mnt the device used will be one
                               near the user.
          /mnt/terms/terminal  is a directory where devices and
                               resources from the machine terminal can
                               be found. There are multiple terminals
                               mounted below /mnt/terms in the same
                               way.  We mention some devices next, but
                               not all of them would be provided by
                               all terminals. The devices found
                               directly at /mnt come indeed from the
                               ones we mention here.
          /mnt/terms/terminal/view
                               is the view device provided by the ter-
                               minal.
          /mnt/terms/terminal/print
                               is the print device from that terminal.
          /mnt/terms/terminal/voice
                               is its voice synthesis device.
          /mnt/terms/terminal/fs
                               contains the file system from sysname
                               (from its native OS, not from the
                               Inferno it runs).  This can be used to
                               transfer files back and forth between
                               the PC and the terminal.
          /n/pc                contains the name space of the Inferno
                               running at the PC. All resources
                               described before in this list come from
                               this file tree.
          /what                contains information about machines.
          /what/machine        contains information about the system
                               named machine.
          /what/machine/where  contains the machine location.

     NAMESPACE(4)                                         NAMESPACE(4)

          /what/machine/radius contains the RTT for performing a par-
                               ticular FS operation on the machine
                               from the PC.
          /what/machine/owner  contains the name of the user owning
                               the machine.
          /who                 contains information about users.
          /who/user            contains information about user user.
          /who/user/where      contains the last known location for
                               the user.
          /who/user/last       contains the name of the last terminal
                               used by this user.
          /who/user/status     contains the status of the user. It is
                               usually on of online, busy, or away.

        PC Inferno name space
          The name space space at the Inferno running on the PC is
          similar to that of any other Inferno installation, but
          includes the following files and directories. Unless said
          otherwise, the directories mean the same the do in the name
          space of the PC.

                           TP /dis/o contains the Dis binaries for the
                           Octopus.
          /dis/o/$emuhost  contains Dis binaries for the Octopus
                           intended for the host system represented by
                           the $emuhost variable. This directory is
                           bound also at /dis to add platform depen-
                           dent binaries to the portable ones.
          /mnt/registry    is the mount point for the registry,
                           describing resources known by the Octopus.
          /mnt/ui
          /mnt/ports
          /mnt/snarf       contains the snarf and sel files found at
                           /dev in the PC.
          /mnt/view
          /mnt/print
          /mnt/voice
          /mnt/fs          contains the PC name space, including the
                           files described before for the PC.
          /mnt/what        is the PC /what directory, and contains
                           information about machines.
          /mnt/who         is the PC /who directory and contains
                           information about users.
          /terms           is similar to /mnt/terms in the PC.

        Terminal name space
          The name space at the Inferno running on a terminal has the
          file tree of the PC's Inferno at /pc (using the Octopus pro-
          tocol as the file protocol) and also at /n/pc (using Styx as
          the file protocol). The former works better on poor network
          connections but the later is closer to expected semantics
          for file access. Also, /mnt/registry /mnt/snarf and other

     NAMESPACE(4)                                         NAMESPACE(4)

          devices from the PC are available for use by terminal soft-
          ware.

     SOURCE
          /usr/octopus/port/ons

     SEE ALSO
          nsbuild(1), wm(1), newns(2)