System and method for ghost offset utilization in sequential byte stream semantics

摘要

A system and method for releasing storage space at the beginning of a byte stream while maintaining sequential byte stream semantics is provided. A ghost offset is initialized when a file is instantiated or opened. When information is deleted at the beginning of the sequential byte stream, the ghost offset is incremented in the amount of the number of bytes being deleted. The ghost offset continues to increment while the file is opened and information is being deleted at the beginning of the data stream. The virtual offset is the ghost offset added to the real offset of a particular entry in the data stream which maintains sequential byte stream semantics. When the file is closed, storage space is released in the amount of the ghost offset. Applications are provided with virtual offsets corresponding to data locations which are converted to real offsets for accessing data in the data stream.