docs: volume identity, and volumes.csv as danos's fstab

Decision 8 in the rationale, mirrored into the architecture's volume-manager
section: the mount map keys on CONTENT identity, never port or arrival order
— Linux's /dev/sda1-era fstab broke on every port move until UUID= replaced
it, and danos skips that era. The identity ladder the prober reads off the
medium: GPT partition GUID, filesystem UUID, FAT serial+label, MBR
signature+index, anonymous. Consequences are mechanical: port moves change
nothing (USB, hub, SATA bay, or transport swaps), replug remounts at the
same path, the boot volume is a recorded identity findable anywhere, and
cloned duplicates are a loud policy case instead of silent shadowing.
/volumes/<name> stands as the hierarchy's home for attached media; minting
identifiers (formatting, entropy) stays deliberately out of scope.
This commit is contained in:
Daniel Samson
2026-08-09 15:59:38 +01:00
parent 728b436d0f
commit ada251150a
2 changed files with 43 additions and 3 deletions
@@ -83,9 +83,20 @@ policy), enforced by nobody else:
- `filesystems.csv` — content signature → filesystem binary. Adding a - `filesystems.csv` — content signature → filesystem binary. Adding a
filesystem adds a row. filesystem adds a row.
- the mount map — volume identity → mount prefix. The boot volume is chosen - `volumes.csv` — the mount map, danos's fstab: **volume identity → mount
by **content** (the volume carrying `/system/configuration` and prefix**, keyed on content identity and never on port, path, or arrival
`/system/logs`), never by port or arrival order. order (the lesson of Linux's `/dev/sda1`-era fstab, which broke on every
port move until `UUID=` replaced it). Identity is read off the medium by
the prober, strongest first: GPT partition GUID → filesystem UUID → FAT
serial + label → MBR signature + partition index → anonymous (generated
name, no persistence). Same identity, same mount point: a drive moved to
another port — USB to another hub, SATA to another bay, even a stick
returning in a different dock — lands exactly where it was. Duplicate
identity (cloned sticks, together) is policy: first keeps the name, the
second mounts suffixed and is logged loudly. The boot volume is the
recorded identity of the volume carrying `/system/configuration` and
`/system/logs`, findable on any port. Unknown volumes mount under
`/volumes/<derived name>`.
**Filesystem service** (the FAT service today; one process per volume): the **Filesystem service** (the FAT service today; one process per volume): the
proven unit — block-client + engine + file-protocol provider in one binary. It proven unit — block-client + engine + file-protocol provider in one binary. It
@@ -194,3 +194,32 @@ matrix-proven shape; genuinely open.
leaves is the one removable-media case the channel-death trigger cannot leaves is the one removable-media case the channel-death trigger cannot
see; without this event a swapped SD card would be served with the old see; without this event a swapped SD card would be served with the old
card's filesystem state. card's filesystem state.
8. **Volume identity, and the mount map as danos's fstab** (settled). The
lesson is Linux's own history: fstab keyed on `/dev/sda1` for years and
broke whenever a drive changed ports or enumeration order; `UUID=` entries
exist because device-path identity failed. danos skips that era: the mount
map (`volumes.csv` — configuration, read by the volume manager) keys on
**content identity, never port or discovery order**. The prober reads
identity off the medium, strongest first:
1. GPT partition GUID — 128-bit, unique, stable for the volume's life;
2. filesystem UUID (ext-family and most modern formats, in the superblock);
3. FAT volume serial + label — 32 bits, weak (dd-cloned sticks share it)
but what real sticks carry;
4. MBR disk signature + partition index;
5. nothing — an anonymous volume: generated mount name, no persistence.
Consequences, each mechanical once identity keys the map: **moving a drive
to a different port changes nothing** — same identity, same mount point,
whether USB port, hub depth, SATA port, or a stick that left as USB and
returned in a SATA dock; **replug remounts at the same path** (the
remount-after-return story is a map lookup); **the boot volume** is the
recorded identity of the volume carrying `/system/configuration`, findable
on any port; and **duplicate identity is a policy case, not a surprise** —
two cloned sticks at once: first keeps the mapped name, second mounts
suffixed and is logged loudly, never silently shadowed. Unknown identities
mount under a derived name (sanitized label, else generated) at
`/volumes/<name>` — the hierarchy's documented home for attached media,
which stands: `/system` is what danos IS; attached media is what it isn't.
danos never needs to MINT identifiers to detect volumes — detection only
reads — until it grows formatting, which brings the entropy question and
is deliberately out of scope here.