[OpenAFS] Soft mounts for /afs root

[Jeff Riegel]

We have been looking into modifying the AFS client to support "soft mounts"
for the AFS root directory.  Currently, /afs is mounted from your home
cell's root.afs volume and provides mount points to each cell's root.cell
volume.  The modification would allow the client to see a virtual /afs
with cell mount points determined from a client-specific database or
configuration file.  A mechanism could be provided to allow the user to
add a particular cell to his AFS root, similar to a Web bookmark.

This approach should allow a client to have access to the AFS space without
needing to be a member of a home cell.  We are therefore considering calling
this project the "Freelance AFS client".

We'd like to get feedback from the AFS user community regarding this
project.  Does it seem like a useful function?  Any specific features
that people feel we should include?  Also, we would like to know if work
is already underway on such a project.  Thanks for any input.

Jeff Riegel
riegel@almaden.ibm.com