CRITICAL BUG FIX: The previous Windows implementation had a fatal flaw
where it deleted the old WAL file before renaming, creating a window
where all data could be lost if the rename failed.
Previous (BROKEN) Windows code:
remove_file_or_dir(wal->file_path); // Delete old file
rename(...); // <-- If this fails, we've lost all data!
New implementation uses MoveFileExW with MOVEFILE_REPLACE_EXISTING:
- Windows: MoveFileExW(..., MOVEFILE_REPLACE_EXISTING) atomically
replaces the destination file, matching Unix semantics
- Unix/Linux: rename() continues to atomically replace as before
- Both platforms now have atomic file replacement with no data loss window
This ensures durability on both platforms - if the operation fails at
any point, we still have either the old file or the new file, never
losing all data.
ToastyFS
ToastyFS is a distributed file system designed for self-hosting, so it aims to be pragmatic, understandable, and robust. You can use ToastyFS to store your files reliably over multiple machines knowing they will be automatically replicated and healed in case of hardware failure. ToastyFS works by running nodes on multiple machines. Clients using the ToastyFS C library can then send file operations to the cluster. Here's a quick example:
#include <ToastyFS.h>
int main(void)
{
ToastyString addr = TOASTY_STR("127.0.0.1");
int port = 8080;
ToastyString file = TOASTY_STR("/my_file.txt");
// Connect to cluster
ToastyFS *toasty = toasty_connect(addr, port);
// Create and write to a file
toasty_create_file(toasty, file, 4096);
toasty_write(toasty, file, 0, "Hello!", 6);
// Read it back
char buf[6];
toasty_read(toasty, file, 0, buf, 6);
// Done!
toasty_disconnect(toasty);
return 0;
}
⚠️ Note that ToastyFS is still in early development ⚠️
🎵 Now let's get toasty 🎵
Features
- Cross-platform (runs on Windows and Linux)
- Automatic Replication & Self-Healing
- Automatic content deduplication via internal content-addressing
- Configurable file chunk sizes
- Small and understandable
But ToastyFS is still in early development, so here are the missing features:
- No master replication
- No authentication or encryption
Testing
ToastyFS is tested by running an in-memory simulation of a cluster with many clients running hundreds of random operations in parallel. The test is run for long periods of times under valgrind or compiled with sanitizers.