ajeetdsouza/bbfs — explained in plain English
Analysis updated 2026-08-03 · repo last pushed 2019-08-17
Debug an app that crashes when saving files by routing its activity through the watching folder to see exactly what it touches.
Log which files a program reads or writes during a session for troubleshooting or auditing.
Understand how an unfamiliar application interacts with the filesystem by observing its file operations in real time.
| ajeetdsouza/bbfs | psibi/odbc-issue-49 | bobymicroby/boby-alga-toolkit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 1 | 1 | — |
| Language | Haskell | Haskell | Haskell |
| Last pushed | 2019-08-17 | 2022-04-26 | 2021-02-10 |
| Maintenance | Dormant | Dormant | Dormant |
| Setup difficulty | moderate | moderate | easy |
| Complexity | 4/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
| Audience | developer | developer | pm founder |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Requires FUSE support on your OS and a working Haskell build environment, which can be tricky to configure.
BBFS, or the "Big Brother File System," is a tool that watches everything that happens in a folder on your computer. It sits between you and your files, acting as a middleman that records every action, then passes that action along to the real folder underneath. The name is a nod to the idea that it is always watching. Here is how it works at a high level. When you open, read, or save a file, you normally interact directly with your computer's storage. This tool creates a fake or "virtual" folder that looks and behaves exactly like a normal one. When you interact with this virtual folder, it notes exactly what you are trying to do, and then quietly performs that exact same action on the real, hidden folder behind the scenes. You see your files as usual, but the system gets a chance to observe the traffic flowing through it. This kind of tool is primarily useful for developers who want to understand or debug how a program interacts with files. For example, if you have an app that keeps crashing when it tries to save a document, a developer could route that app's activity through this watching folder. Instead of guessing what went wrong, the developer gets a clear log of exactly which files the app touched and what it tried to do with them. What is notable about this project is how it was built. It is written in Haskell, a programming language known for being mathematically strict and reliable. The creator wrote it specifically to test and explore how well Haskell can connect to the underlying file-watching technology. Because the ecosystem for this specific task in Haskell is still maturing, the project is as much an experiment in programming infrastructure as it is a practical utility.
A virtual file system layer that logs every file action (open, read, save) and forwards it to a real hidden folder. Built in Haskell as an experiment in file-watching infrastructure.
Mainly Haskell. The stack also includes Haskell, FUSE.
Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2019-08-17).
No license information is provided in the repository, so usage rights are unclear.
Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 1h+ to a first successful run.
Mainly developer.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
Verify against the repo before relying on details.