<s>
The	O
Minix	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
is	O
the	O
native	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
of	O
the	O
Minix	B-Operating_System
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
written	O
from	O
scratch	O
by	O
Andrew	O
S	O
.	O
Tanenbaum	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
and	O
aimed	O
to	O
replicate	O
the	O
structure	O
of	O
the	O
Unix	B-Operating_System
File	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
while	O
omitting	O
complex	O
features	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
teaching	O
aid	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
largely	O
fell	O
out	O
of	O
favour	O
among	O
Linux	B-Application
users	O
by	O
1994	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
popularity	O
of	O
other	O
filesystems	B-Application
-	O
most	O
notably	O
ext2	B-Application
-	O
and	O
its	O
lack	O
of	O
features	O
,	O
including	O
limited	O
partition	B-Application
sizes	O
and	O
filename	O
length	O
limits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MINIX	B-Operating_System
was	O
written	O
from	O
scratch	O
by	O
Andrew	O
S	O
.	O
Tanenbaum	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
system	I-Operating_System
whose	O
source	O
code	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
freely	O
in	O
education	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
MINIX	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
was	O
designed	O
for	O
use	O
with	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
;	O
it	O
copies	O
the	O
basic	O
structure	O
of	O
the	O
Unix	B-Operating_System
File	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
but	O
avoids	O
any	O
complex	O
features	O
in	O
the	O
interest	O
of	O
keeping	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
clean	O
,	O
clear	O
and	O
simple	O
,	O
to	O
meet	O
the	O
overall	O
goal	O
of	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
to	O
be	O
a	O
useful	O
teaching	O
aid	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Linus	O
Torvalds	O
first	O
started	O
writing	O
his	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
kernel	O
(	O
1991	O
)	O
,	O
he	O
was	O
working	O
on	O
a	O
machine	O
running	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
adopted	O
its	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
layout	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
soon	O
proved	O
problematic	O
,	O
since	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
restricted	O
filename	O
lengths	O
to	O
14	O
characters	O
(	O
30	O
in	O
later	O
versions	O
)	O
,	O
it	O
limited	O
partitions	B-Application
to	O
64	O
megabytes	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
was	O
designed	O
for	O
teaching	O
purposes	O
,	O
not	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Extended	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
ext	B-Application
;	O
April	O
1992	O
)	O
was	O
developed	O
to	O
replace	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
's	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
only	O
with	O
the	O
second	O
version	O
of	O
this	O
,	O
ext2	B-Application
,	O
that	O
Linux	B-Application
obtained	O
a	O
commercial-grade	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
1994	O
,	O
the	O
MINIX	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
was	O
"	O
scarcely	O
in	O
use	O
"	O
among	O
Linux	B-Application
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
MINIX	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
has	O
six	O
components	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Boot	B-Device
Block	I-Device
which	O
is	O
always	O
stored	O
in	O
the	O
first	O
block	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
contains	O
the	O
boot	B-Operating_System
loader	I-Operating_System
that	O
loads	O
and	O
runs	O
an	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
at	O
system	B-Operating_System
startup	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
second	O
block	O
is	O
the	O
Superblock	O
which	O
stores	O
data	O
about	O
the	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
that	O
allows	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
to	O
locate	O
and	O
understand	O
other	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
structures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
inodes	B-Application
and	O
zones	O
,	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
two	O
bitmaps	O
and	O
the	O
starting	O
block	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
area	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
inode	B-Application
bitmap	O
is	O
a	O
simple	O
map	B-Application
of	O
the	O
inodes	B-Application
that	O
tracks	O
which	O
ones	O
are	O
in	O
use	O
and	O
which	O
ones	O
are	O
free	O
by	O
representing	O
them	O
as	O
either	O
a	O
one	O
(	O
in	O
use	O
)	O
or	O
a	O
zero	O
(	O
free	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
zone	O
bitmap	O
works	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
as	O
the	O
inode	B-Application
bitmap	O
,	O
except	O
it	O
tracks	O
the	O
zones	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
inodes	B-Application
area	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
file	O
or	O
directory	O
is	O
represented	O
as	O
an	O
inode	B-Application
,	O
which	O
records	O
metadata	O
including	O
type	O
(	O
file	O
,	O
directory	O
,	O
block	O
,	O
char	O
,	O
pipe	O
)	O
,	O
IDs	O
for	O
user	O
and	O
group	O
,	O
three	O
timestamps	O
that	O
record	O
the	O
date	O
and	O
time	O
of	O
last	O
access	O
,	O
last	O
modification	O
and	O
last	O
status	O
change	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
inode	B-Application
also	O
contains	O
a	O
list	O
of	O
addresses	O
that	O
point	O
to	O
the	O
zones	O
in	O
the	O
data	O
area	O
where	O
the	O
file	O
or	O
directory	O
data	O
is	O
actually	O
stored	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
data	O
area	O
is	O
the	O
largest	O
component	O
of	O
the	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
using	O
the	O
majority	O
of	O
the	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
