11.1. Files in Solaris
Generically defined, a file is an entity that stores data as an array of bytes, beginning at byte zero and extending to the end of the file. The contents of the file (the data) can take any number of forms: a simple text file, a binary executable file, a directory file, etc. Solaris supports many types of files, several of which are defined at the kernel level, meaning that some component of the kernel has intimate knowledge of the file's format by virtue of the file type. An example is a directory file on a UFS file system—directory files have a specific format that is known to the UFS kernel routines designed for directory I/O.
The number of file types in the kernel has increased over the last several years with the addition ...
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