Margo Seltzer, Harvard University - December 2009

For most users today, search is the primary means of file access. Despite this, search it typically implemented on top of older hierarchical namespace architectures. This project proposes to invert this relationship—building a file system for which the native naming convention is based upon search, and hierarchical names are merely one of many indexes into this search-based representation.This project will develop a new local file system and API that is inherently search-based. It will compare this design to traditional file systems both with and without desktop search facilities.