VerText (Versioned VFS)

VerText is a proof-of-concept Versioned Virtual File System implemented in C++ using FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace). It allows you to mount a virtual directory where every file modification is tracked, essentially providing git-like versioning capabilities directly at the filesystem level.

The project also includes a TUI (Text User Interface) tool to inspect the version history and manage the underlying data.

Features

• FUSE-based Mounting: Mount the filesystem and inspect it with standard tools (ls, cat, nano, etc.)
• Automatic Versioning: Writes to files automatically create new versions.
• TUI Inspector: An ncurses-based terminal UI to view version history and backend storage layout.
• Backend Storage: Uses a structured directory layout in runtime/data to store file blobs and metadata.

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Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the following installed:

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential cmake libfuse3-dev libncurses-dev pkg-config

macOS

You need to install FUSE for macOS (now macFUSE) or fuse-t.

brew install cmake pkg-config
brew install --cask macfuse
# You may also need to install ncurses if not present (usually pre-installed)

Windows

Note: FUSE is not natively supported on Windows. To run this project on Windows, you MUST use WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

1. Install WSL2 (wsl --install in PowerShell).
2. Open your Ubuntu (or other distro) terminal.
3. Follow the Linux instructions above inside the WSL terminal.

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Build Instructions

1. Clone or Navigate to the project directory:

   cd VerText

2. Create a build directory:

   mkdir build
   cd build

3. Configure and Build:

   cmake ..
   make

   This will generate two executables in the build/ directory:

   • vfs_mount: The FUSE daemon.
   • vfs_tui: The TUI version inspector.

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How to Run

The project provides convenient helper scripts in the scripts/ directory to manage mounting and running applications.

1. Mount the Filesystem

To start the VFS, use the mount.sh script. By default, it mounts to /tmp/vfs_mount.

# Run in foreground (helpful for debugging/logging)
./scripts/mount.sh <path to the directory where you wanna mount> -f

# OR Run in background
./scripts/mount.sh

Note: The script also sets up the necessary runtime/ directories for storage.

Once mounted, you can interact with it like a normal folder:

cd /tmp/vfs_mount
echo "Hello World" > hello.txt
cat hello.txt

2. Run the TUI Inspector

To view the backend storage and version history, use the TUI script. Note: You can run this even while the VFS is mounted.

./scripts/run_tui.sh

Use the arrow keys to navigate and q to quit.

3. Unmount

When you are done, unmount the filesystem properly to ensure data is flushed and the daemon stops.

./scripts/unmount.sh

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Project Structure

• src/fuse/: Core FUSE implementation (operations, main loop).
• src/tui/: Ncurses-based TUI implementation.
• src/common/: Shared utilities (path handling).
• scripts/: Helper scripts for mounting/unmounting.
• runtime/: Created at runtime.
  • data/: Backend blob storage.
  • meta/: Metadata storage.