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README

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README.md

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+πfs: Never worry about data again!
+==================================
+
+πfs is a revolutionary new file system that, instead of wasting space storing
+your data on your hard drive, stores your data in π! You'll never run out of
+space again - π holds every file that could possibly exist!
+
+πfs is dead simple to build:
+
+```sh
+./configure
+make
+make install
+```
+
+πfs is dead simple to use:
+
+```sh
+πfs -o mdd=<metadata directory> <mountpoint>
+```
+
+where the _metadata directory_ is where πfs should store its metadata (such
+as filenames or the locations of your files in π) and _mountpoint_ is your
+usual filesystem mountpoint.
+
+What does π have to do with my data?
+------------------------------------
+
+π (or pi) is one of the most important constants in mathematics and has a
+variety of interesting properties (which you can read about at [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi))
+
+One of the properties that π is conjectured to have is that it is _normal_,
+which is to say that its digits are all distributed evenly, with the
+implication that it is a _disjunctive sequence_, meaning that all possible
+finite sequences of digits will be present somewhere in it. If we consider
+π in base 16 (hexadecimal) , it is trivial to see that if this conjecture
+is true, then all possible finite files must exist within π. The first
+record of this observation dates back to [2001](http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/01/Jun/pi.html).
+
+From here, it is a small leap to see that if π contains all possible files,
+why are we wasting exabytes of space storing those files, when we could just
+look them up in π!
+
+Every file that could possible exist?
+-------------------------------------
+
+That's right! Every file you've ever created, or anyone else has created or
+will create! Copyright infringement? It's just a few digits of π! They were
+always there!
+
+But how do I look up my data in π?
+----------------------------------
+
+As long as you know the index into π of your file and its length, its a
+simple task to extract the file using the [Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBP-type_formula)
+Similarly, you can use the formula to initially find the index of your file
+
+Now, we all know that it can take a while to find a long sequence of digits
+in π, so for practical reasons, we should break the files up into smaller
+chunks that can be more readily found.
+
+In this implementation, to maximise performance, we consider each individual byte
+of the file separately, and look it up in π.
+
+So I've looked up my bytes in π, but how do I remember where they are?
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Well, you've obviously got to write them down somewhere; you could use a piece of
+paper, but remember all that storage space we saved by moving our data into π? Why
+don't we store our file locations there!?! Even better, the location of our files in
+π is metadata and as [we all know](http://araman-consulting.co.uk/2012/metadata-the-importance-of-being-found/)
+metadata is becoming more and more important in everything we do. Doesn't it feel
+great to have generated so much metadata? Why waste time with old fashioned data
+when you can just deal with metadata, and lots of it!
+
+Yeah, but what happens if lose my file locations?
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+No problem, the locations are just metadata! Your files are still there, sitting
+in π - they're never going away, are they?
+
+Why is this thing so slow? It took me five minutes to store a 400 line text file!
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Well, this is just an initial prototype, and don't worry, there's always Moore's law!
+
+Where do we go from here?
+-------------------------
+
+There's lots of potential for the future!
+
+* Variable run length search and lookup!
+* Arithmetic Coding!
+* Parallelizable lookup!
+* Cloud based π lookup!
+* πfs for Hadoop!
+