Is it possible to create a virtual file in unix, whose contents are determined programmatically when the file is accessed, a bit like the files in /proc?For example, I have a program that retrieves a particular setting by reading/catting a file. However, rather than store that setting directly in a plain text file, I want to be able to retrieve that setting from a database in the background and then pass that information to the program when it reads this virtual file. Is it possible to do so?
Creating a virtual file whose contents are determined programmatically
files;cat;read
You could look at Named Pipes.man fifo for a starting point.Essentially you create a named pipe, one process (or more) reads from it and another can write to it.