> if Windows decided to export every system-level API as a DCOM object, that would also get you the same kind of "the whole universe is networked" kind of deal.
The difference is that in Plan 9, there is no 'if', and there's no other option for accessing resources. All programs interface with the OS and other programs via 9p, more or less: Notable exceptions
are process creation calls like rfork() and exec().
> but 9p the protocol appears not to have any concept of mmap:
Correct. Mmap is a kernel feature -- and mmap style stuff is only really done for demand paging of binaries at the moment. You get a cache miss and a page fault? Backfill with a read. Backfilling IO on page fault is really all mmap does, conceptually.
The difference is that in Plan 9, there is no 'if', and there's no other option for accessing resources. All programs interface with the OS and other programs via 9p, more or less: Notable exceptions are process creation calls like rfork() and exec().
> but 9p the protocol appears not to have any concept of mmap:
Correct. Mmap is a kernel feature -- and mmap style stuff is only really done for demand paging of binaries at the moment. You get a cache miss and a page fault? Backfill with a read. Backfilling IO on page fault is really all mmap does, conceptually.