GnomeVFS (short for GNOME Virtual File System) was an

abstraction layer In computing, an abstraction layer or abstraction level is a way of hiding the working details of a subsystem. Examples of software models that use layers of abstraction include the OSI model for network protocols, OpenGL, and other graphics libr ...

of the GNOME platform for the reading, writing and execution of files. Before GNOME 2.22 GnomeVFS was primarily used by the appropriate versions of Nautilus file manager (renamed to GNOME Files) and other

GNOME applications GNOME Core Applications is a software suite of approximately 30 application software that are packaged as part of the standard free and open-source GNOME desktop environment. GNOME Core Applications have the look and feel of the GNOME desktop, ...

. A cause of confusion is the fact that the

file system In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...

abstraction used by the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ...

is also called the

virtual file system A virtual file system (VFS) or virtual filesystem switch is an abstract layer on top of a more concrete file system. The purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way. A VFS ...

(VFS) layer. This is however at a lower level. Due to perceived shortcomings of GnomeVFS a replacement called GVfs was developed. GVfs is based on

GIO Gio or GIO may refer to: People * Gio (nickname) * Gio (footballer, born 1984), Spanish * Gio (singer) (born 1990) * Gio people, an ethnic group in northeastern Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire Science and technology * Gi/o, protein subunits * GI ...

and allows partitions to be mounted through

FUSE Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protect ...

. With the release of GNOME 2.22 in April 2008, GnomeVFS was declared

deprecated In several fields, especially computing, deprecation is the discouragement of use of some terminology, feature, design, or practice, typically because it has been superseded or is no longer considered efficient or safe, without completely removing ...

in favor of GVfs and

, requesting that developers do not use it in new applications.

References

External links

GnomeVFS - Filesystem Abstraction library documentation

Writing GnomeVFS Modules
GNOME obsolete {{GNOME-stub