File handles in nfsd

[Sergiu Ivanov]

Hello,

I am Sergiu Ivanov.  This summer I am working on the implementing the
VFS-style union-mounting functionality in GNU/Hurd.  This means
setting a translator on a node in such a way that it's filesystem gets
merged with the underlying node's filesystem instead of covering it.
In the current implementation, it was considered necessary that some
fsys_* RPCs be forwarded to the mounted translator to assure
transparency.  While deciding which RPCs should be forwarded we came
over fsys_getfile and file_getfh, which are, apparently, used only in
nfsd.  Having noticed your name as the author of the some of the files
dealing with file handles in nfsd, I'm directing the following
questions to you.

1. No libnetfs translator supports either fsys_getfile or file_getfh,
   which removes the possibility of a libnetfs translator being
   supported by nfsd.  Was it intended?

2. Is it possible to implement nfsd without appealing to file handles?
   This might widen the use-case set for nfsd.

If you are not the right person to ask these questions, could you
please suggest someone to whom I could better address my request?

Regards,
scolobb