iSeries / AS400 FAQ : (Category) General : Where can I find out more about the IFS?
I keep hearing about the IFS. What is it, and where can I find out about it? IFS stands for Integrated File System. It brings all of the other file systems under a single umbrella: wrklnk ‘/’ Opt Object link Type dev DIR etc DIR home DIR tmp DIR usr DIR var DIR QDLS DIR QOpenSys DIR QOPT DIR QSYS.LIB DIR Some were left out, but the point is that the traditional LIBRARY/FILE system resides in the IFS, as does the shared folder system (QDLS) as well as a Unix-like system named QOpenSys. Generally, when people say “IFS” they mean the Unix-like portion, where file names can be something like this: 00001.12345678.LocalFile.2002_01_28 These Unix-like files are called stream files, and do not necessarily contain a fixed record length, or any record length at all! They are treated as a stream of bytes instead of a group of records. That’s a quick overview. For more details on the IFS, see the following links: iSeries Information Centre V5R1 page: http://www.iseries.ibm.com/library (under Techn
