Plan 9, A Distributed System
Dave Presotto, Robert Neil Pike, Ken Thompson, Howard W. Trickey · 2014
Plan 9 is a computing environment physically distributed across many machines. The distribution itself is transparent to most programs giving both users and administrators wide latitude in configuring the topology of the environment. Two properties make this possible: a per process group name space and uniform access to all resources by representing them as files. 1. Introduction Plan 9 is a general-purpose, multi-user, portable distributed system implemented on a variety of computers and networks. Because commands, libraries, and system calls are similar to those of the Unix operating system, it is possible to port many Unix programs to Plan 9 with little or no changes. A casual user would find little difference between the two systems. What distinguishes Plan 9 is its organization. The goals of this organization were to reduce administration and to promote resource sharing. Our programming style was minimalism. We believe that a small number of well-chosen abstractions can, with muc...