gemini://gemini.tuxmachines.org/n/2022/08/05/ownCloud_users_have_only_had_the_opportunity_to_choose_between_simple_local_file

So far, ownCloud users have only had the opportunity to choose between simple local file storage based on a POSIX-compatible file system or EOS Open Storage (EOS). The latter causes massive complexity during setup. More recent versions of ownCloud feature a functionality called Decomposed FS. This file system is supposed to bring oCIS to arbitrary storage backends and even scalable ones.

During the rewrite of ownCloud from PHP to Go, the company behind the private cloud solution is introducing massive changes to the backend of the software. This time, the developers do away with a tedious requirement of the first versions of ownCloud Infinite Scale (oCIS). By implementing a file system abstraction layer, oCIS can use arbitrary backend-storages (and even such storage mechanisms that can seamlessly scale out). This article explains the reasons behind ownCloud's decision, the details behind the Decomposed FS component, and what it means for ownCloud users and future deployments.

To understand the struggle that oCIS faces, it's important to have a quick look back at the genesis of ownCloud Infinite Scale. What started as an attempt to gain more performance resulted in a complete rewrite of the tool in a programming language that was different from the previous one. ownCloud did, however, partner with several companies and institutions when rewriting its core product. Amongst the organizations that ownCloud partnered with was a university in Australia. Said university used EOS, a storage technology developed by CERN, the European physics research institute notorious for running projects like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). For the partnership between ownCloud and the Australian University to make any sense, oCIS needed to be tied to the existing on-premises storage solution of the institute.

Scalable storage for the masses to debut in ownCloud Infinite Scale