NAME

	ramfs – memory file system

SYNOPSIS

	ramfs [ –Dipsu ] [ –m mountpoint ] [ –S srvname ]

DESCRIPTION

Ramfs starts a process that mounts itself (see bind(2)) on mountpoint (default /tmp). The ramfs process implements a file tree rooted at dir, keeping all files in memory. Initially the file tree is empty. The –D option enables a trace of general debugging messages. The –i flag tells ramfs to use file descriptors 0 and 1 for its communication channel rather than create a pipe. This makes it possible to use ramfs as a file server on a remote machine: the file descriptors 0 and 1 will be the network channel from ramfs to the client machine. The –p flag causes ramfs to make its memory `private' (see proc(3)) so that its files are not accessible through the debugging interface. The –s (–S) flag causes ramfs to post its channel on /srv/ramfs (/srv/srvname) rather than mounting it on mountpoint, enabling multiple clients to access its files. However, it does not authenticate its clients and its implementation of groups is simplistic, so it should not be used for precious data. The –u option permits ramfs to consume as much memory as needed; without it, ramfs will limit its consumption to some arbitrary amount, currently 768MB (enough to hold a CD image). This program is useful mainly as an example of how to write a user–level file server. It can also be used to provide high–performance temporary files.

SOURCE

	/sys/src/cmd/ramfs.c

SEE ALSO

	bind(2)