Named Data Streams

Named data streams associate multiple data streams with a file. Access to the named data stream can be done through a file descriptor using the named data stream library functions. Applications can open the named data stream to obtain a file descriptor and perform read(), write(), and mmap() operations using the file descriptor. These system calls would work as though they are operating on a regular file. The named data streams of a file are stored in a hidden named data stream directory inode associated with the file. The hidden directory inode for the file can be accessed only through the named data stream application programming interface.