# Intro to Filesystems WORK IN PROGRESS mergerfs is a union filesystem that manages other filesystems. To understand how mergerfs works and what the features do and mean you must understand at least the basics of how filesystems work. Much of the confusion with mergerfs is based in a lack of knowledge about filesystems. This section of the documentation is provide a primer for those needing that knowledge. ## terminology ## files ### types * regular: * directory: * symlink: * fifo: * unix domain socket: ### inodes ### names ### permissions ### owership ## functions ## workflows ### creating a file ### reading or writing to a file ### copying a file ### moving a file