man(1) Manual page archive


     INTRO(4)                                                 INTRO(4)

     Name
          intro - Introduction to System Boxes.

     Synopsis
          /b

     Description
          The name space of a Plan B application is made of a set of
          names that have boxes attached to them. This section
          describes the set of boxes that are expected to be available
          on a Plan B system.  All of them are imported at prefixes
          starting with "/b", although some of them are also imported
          at conventional names like "/bin". The synopsis in each page
          shows the prefix for each system box along with the set of
          inner boxes supplied.

          Depending on the exact configuration some of these boxes may
          not be available; nevertheless, those missing can be
          imported from other network locations.

          Beware that once a system box is forgotten, there is no way
          to get back to it (unless it is also exported by the system
          to the network). This is not a problem since a new namespace
          starts with a standard set of system boxes imported to
          well-known prefixes.

          Appart from the set of boxes supplied by the system, there
          is a set of conventions that are important for system opera-
          tion. The conventions are changing quickly since Plan B is
          just born. Therefore, you should expect that most of the
          boxes shown in this section are likely to change as experi-
          ence with the system is gained.

          As of today, this is the typical hierarchy of boxes found in
          a name space:

          /
              bin
              b
                  sys
                  proc
                  usr
                  mem
                  chan
                  term
                  fs
                  con
                  udp
                  tcp
              doc

     INTRO(4)                                                 INTRO(4)

                  2
                  4
              p95
                  bin
                  include
                  lib
              p98
              386
              port
              proc
              src
                  b
                  cmd
              tmp
              usr

          Those under /b are boxes from the local kernel. All other
          ones are prefixes where some other boxes (including the
          local ones) may be mounted. For example, /bin is usually a
          set of imports from either local /b/fs/bin boxes or from
          network boxes advertised as /bin.

          /bin  contains boxes with binary code ready to be executed
                on available processors.
          /b    contains kernel-supplied boxes.  For boxes under /b
                you can refer to the following manual pages to see
                what services are provided by each one.
          /doc  contains system documentation. Inner boxes named
                /doc/2 and /doc/4 contain the sections 2 and 4 of the
                user's manual.
          /p95  is the outter box for binaries, includes, and
                libraries dependent on the p95 architecture (Hosted on
                Plan 9 for ARM processors). It is expected to contain
                /p95/bin, /p95/include, and /p95/lib boxes. Following
                machine-dependent boxes have the same structure.
          /p98  is the outter box for p98 boxes (Hosted on Plan 9 for
                386 processors).
          /386  is not used by now. The name is reserved for 386 depe-
                dent boxes that will be necessary after implementing a
                native version of the system for Intel based PCs.
          /port has the same structure of the machine-dependent boxes,
                but includes portable code that is expected to work on
                all architectures. Shell scripts go under /port/bin.
          /proc contains processor boxes used to start new programs.
          /src  contains system source, both for kernel and user com-
                mands.
          /tmp  is used to create temporary boxes. It is expected to
                be highly volatile.
          /usr  is the outter box for user's boxes. User nemo uses
                /usr/nemo as his outter box. Beware that /b/usr serves
                a quite different purpose, since usr(4) is used to
                represent humans and not to contain user's boxes; i.e.

     INTRO(4)                                                 INTRO(4)

                /b/usr/nemo is the human known as Nemo to the system,
                as far as Plan B is concerned.

     Announces
          Some system boxes use to be announced to the network. This
          section describes which ones.

     Source
          /src/b

     See also
          Plan B: Boxes for network resources.  Francisco J Balles-
          teros.

          The Box: A replacement for files.  Francisco J Ballesteros
          and Sergio Arevalo. HotOS-VII.

          intro(1).

     Bugs
          Many, this section is not different and system boxes still
          have many bugs to fix.