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+# Versioning File System #
+
+Versioning File System (uninterestingly abbreviated VFS) is a simple user-space file system implemented on top of
+[FUSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Filesystem_in_Userspace) with the aid of [Bazil ](https://bazil.org/fuse/),
+written in [Golang](https://golang.org/). Development on this project was started as means to learn more about the way
+Linux handles file systems, while at the same time answering a personal need of an easy to understand, transparent
+versioning file system for data backup. Although it should not yet be considered to be production ready, VFS is already
+usable in its current state.
+
+## Design ##
+
+My goal was to build file system which could handle changes to file data and directory structure between mount cycles,
+in a simple, transparent way. I wanted to avoid storing version information in binary blobs, which are completely
+incomprehensible to the user. I strongly believed that the user should not be locked into a versioning scheme that
+prevented trivial migration or export of data. As such, versioned file data is stored in timestamped directories on a
+host file system (with minimal metadata stored in a human-readable format).
+
+Each version consists of a root node and child nodes that represent modified files or directories for that version;
+unmodified data is not duplicated between versions. Other information (such as records about file and directory
+deletions) are stored in a JSON file next to the version root. Although VFS provides a mechanism for enumerating and
+mounting specific snapshots, the user is capable of browsing the version data directly if they choose to do so.
+
+## Installation ##
+
+If you already have the Go environment and toolchain set up, you can get the latest version by running:
+```
+go get github.com/FooSoft/vfs
+```
+Users of Debian-based distributions can use [godeb](https://github.com/niemeyer/godeb) to quickly install the Go
+compiler on their machines.
+
+## Usage ##
+
+Usage information can be seen by running VFS without command-line arguments:
+
+```
+Usage: ./vfs [options] database [mountpoint]
+
+Parameters:
+  -readonly=false: mount filesystem as readonly
+  -version=0: version index (0 for head)
+
+```
+In the output above, the `database` parameter refers to a directory containing VFS versions; an empty directory is a
+valid database.  The `mountpoint` parameter refers to the path on your system where the file system will be accessible
+(mounted).
+
+In order to mount a new or existing volume, follow the steps below:
+
+1.  Add yourself to the `fuse` user group if you are not added already (a requirement of FUSE).
+2.  Execute `./vfs database_dir mountpoint_dir`, using actual paths on your system to mount a volume.
+3.  When you are finished using the volume, unmount it via the `fusermount -u mountpoint_dir` command.