Process and article of manufacture for constructing and optimizing transaction logs for mobile file systems

Abstract

A process and article of manufacture for optimally logging and replaying file system transactions from a mobile file system. The process logs file system transactions in chronological order except for file and directory object renaming transactions that are logged before all other transactions. Each transaction log entry includes a transaction type and file identifier that is expanded dynamically during the replay cycle. The dynamic expansion of the identifier reduces the number of log entries required where file or directory objects are renamed. The transaction log is optimized as each transaction is inserted or appended on the client. The optimization process eliminates transactions that are rendered invalid or superfluous by the most recent transaction. The dynamic expansion feature allows RENAME transactions to be optimized because MKDIR and CREATE transactions automatically are expanded to the new file system object name, eliminating the need to log the RENAME transaction. Successive RENAME transactions are folded into a single RENAME transaction to reduce log size and playback resource requirements.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.