How to implement a Python virtual filesystem using shelve

Question

I have set up a Python script that simulates an OS. It has a command prompt and a virtual file system. I am using the shelve module to simulate the file system, being multi-dimensional in order to support a hierarchy of directories. However, I am having trouble implementing a 'cd' command. I don't know how to get in and out of directories, even though I have a small set of directories created when you first launch the program. Here is my code:

import shelve

fs = shelve.open('filesystem.fs')
directory = 'root'
raw_dir = None
est_dir = None

def install(fs):
    fs['System'] = {}
    fs['Users'] = {}
    username = raw_input('What do you want your username to be? ')
    fs['Users'][username] = {}

try:
    test = fs['runbefore']
    del test
except:
    fs['runbefore'] = None
    install(fs)

def ls(args):
    print 'Contents of directory', directory + ':'
    if raw_dir:
        for i in fs[raw_dir[0]][raw_dir[1]][raw_dir[2]][raw_dir[3]]:
            print i
    else:
        for i in fs:
            print i

def cd(args):
    if len(args.split()) > 1:
        if args.split()[1] == '..':
            if raw_dir[3]:
                raw_dir[3] = 0
            elif raw_dir[2]:
                raw_dir[2] = 0
            elif raw_dir[1]:
                raw_dir[1] = 0
            else:
                print "cd : cannot go above root"

COMMANDS = {'ls' : ls}

while True:
    raw = raw_input('> ')
    cmd = raw.split()[0]
    if cmd in COMMANDS:
        COMMANDS[cmd](raw)

#Use break instead of exit, so you will get to this point.
raw_input('Press the Enter key to shutdown...')

I'm not getting an error, I just have no idea how to do it and no idea of what to search for besides 'python shelve file system', and that doesn't get anything useful.

Answer 1

I provide some code to help you out below, but first, some overall advice that should help you with your design:

• The reason you're having difficulty with changing directories is that you are representing the current directory variable the wrong way. Your current directory should be something like a list, from your top level directory to your current one. Once you have that, you just make a choice about how store files using shelve based on their directory (considering that all keys in Shelve must be strings).

• It looks like you were planning on representing the filesystem as a series of nested dictionaries- a good choice. But note that if you change mutable objects in shelve, you have to a) set writeback to True and b) call fs.sync() to set them.

• You should be structuring your entire filesystem in a class rather than in a series of functions. It will help you keep your shared data organized. The below code doesn't follow that but it is worth thinking about.

So, I fixed up cd and also wrote a rudimentary mkdir command for you. The critical thing for making them work is to, as I said above, have current_dir be a list that shows your current path, and also to have an easy way (the current_dictionary function) to get from that list to the appropriate filesystem directory.

With that, here's the code to get you started:

import shelve

fs = shelve.open('filesystem.fs', writeback=True)
current_dir = []

def install(fs):
    # create root and others
    username = raw_input('What do you want your username to be? ')

    fs[""] = {"System": {}, "Users": {username: {}}}

def current_dictionary():
    """Return a dictionary representing the files in the current directory"""
    d = fs[""]
    for key in current_dir:
        d = d[key]
    return d

def ls(args):
    print 'Contents of directory', "/" + "/".join(current_dir) + ':'
    for i in current_dictionary():
        print i

def cd(args):
    if len(args) != 1:
        print "Usage: cd <directory>"
        return

    if args[0] == "..":
        if len(current_dir) == 0:
            print "Cannot go above root"
        else:
            current_dir.pop()
    elif args[0] not in current_dictionary():
        print "Directory " + args[0] + " not found"
    else:
        current_dir.append(args[0])


def mkdir(args):
    if len(args) != 1:
        print "Usage: mkdir <directory>"
        return
    # create an empty directory there and sync back to shelve dictionary!
    d = current_dictionary()[args[0]] = {}
    fs.sync()

COMMANDS = {'ls' : ls, 'cd': cd, 'mkdir': mkdir}

install(fs)

while True:
    raw = raw_input('> ')
    cmd = raw.split()[0]
    if cmd in COMMANDS:
        COMMANDS[cmd](raw.split()[1:])

#Use break instead of exit, so you will get to this point.
raw_input('Press the Enter key to shutdown...')

And here's a demonstration:

What do you want your username to be? David
> ls
Contents of directory /:
System
Users
> cd Users
> ls
Contents of directory /Users:
David
> cd David
> ls
Contents of directory /Users/David:
> cd ..
> ls
Contents of directory /Users:
David
> cd ..
> mkdir Other
> ls
Contents of directory /:
System
Users
Other
> cd Other
> ls
Contents of directory /Other:
> mkdir WithinOther
> ls
Contents of directory /Other:
WithinOther

It's important to note that this is so far just a toy: there is still a ton left to do. Here are a few examples:

• Right now there is only such a thing as directories- no regular files.

• mkdir doesn't check if a directory already exists, it would overwrite one with an empty directory.

• You can't ls with a specific directory as an argument, (like ls Users), only your current directory.

Still, this should show you an example of a design for keeping track of your current directory. Good luck!