EXPORTFS(4) EXPORTFS(4)
NAME
exportfs, srvfs - network file server plumbing
SYNOPSIS
exportfs [ -asF ] [ -r root ]
srvfs [ -p perm ] name dir
DESCRIPTION
Exportfs is a user level file server that allows Plan 9 com-
pute servers, rather than file servers, to export portions
of a name space across networks. The service is started
either by the cpu(1) command or by a network listener pro-
cess. An initial protocol establishes a root directory for
the exported name space. The connection to exportfs is then
mounted, typically on /mnt/term. Exportfs then acts as a
relay file server: operations in the imported file tree are
executed on the remote server and the results returned.
This gives the appearance of exporting a name space from a
remote machine into a local file tree.
The -r option bypasses the initial protocol, instead immedi-
ately serving the namespace rooted at root. The -s option is
equivalent to -r /, but predates -r and remains for compati-
bility.
The -a option instructs exportfs to authenticate the user,
usually because it is being invoked from a remote machine.
The -F option causes exportfs to push the fcall line disci-
pline on its network connection. This option is intended
for networks that do not preserve read/write boundaries.
The cpu command uses exportfs to serve device files in the
terminal. The import(4) command calls exportfs on a remote
machine, permitting users to access arbitrary pieces of name
space on other systems.
Srvfs uses exportfs to create a mountable file system from a
name space: a subsequent mount (see bind(1)) of /srv/name,
which is created with mode perm (default 0600), will repro-
duce the name space rooted at dir. One might use srvfs to
enable mounting of an FTP file system (see ftpfs(4)) in sev-
eral windows, or to publish a /proc (see proc(3)) with a
broken process so a remote person may debug the program.
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/exportfs
/sys/src/cmd/srvfs.c
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