Levanta, a noted vendor of Linux system management software, has released to the community its MapFS management code for managing Linux-based filesystems. MapFS is a virtual filesystem that makes it easy to share data between multiple Linux machines connected to a single shared storage medium.

A kernel-loadable module, the MapFS is available under the GNU GPL and has been shipping consistently with Intrepid M, another flagship Levanta product.

Besides the advantages listed, through MapFS, a Linux filesystem can utilize a copy-on-write functionality. This makes feasible the combining of several component filesystems into a single fully-writable virtual filesystem. By using MapFS, a Linux system can provide the capability for the sharing of read-only file systems while, providing each client of the read-only file system the ability to write to its own data store.

MapFS can be downloaded free of cost from Sourceforge and other similar sites on the Internet.