Satirical ‘Data-Free’ Filesystem Project πFS Released on GitHub
The project leverages the unproven normal number conjecture and the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula, though the author acknowledges it as a joke on infinite compression.
A GitHub repository for πFS, described as a "data-free filesystem," has been published by user philipl. The project is a satirical take on data storage, claiming to store files within the digits of the mathematical constant pi (π) based on the conjecture that pi is a normal number containing all possible finite sequences. The software requires metadata to track file locations within pi and utilizes the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula for extraction. The author acknowledges the project is an initial prototype and a joke on the concept of infinite compression.
The repository, titled πfs, presents the software as a revolutionary solution to storage constraints. It posits that because pi is conjectured to be a disjunctive sequence, every possible finite file must exist within its expansion. The project’s documentation notes that the first record of this observation dates back to 2001, suggesting that storing files locally is a waste of space when they can be retrieved from pi’s digits.
To function, the software requires the installation of autoconf, automake, and libfuse packages. The implementation relies on the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula to locate and extract specific byte sequences from pi. The author notes that finding long sequences can take a significant amount of time, so the prototype breaks files into smaller chunks, considering each individual byte separately to maximise performance.
The project highlights the irony that storing metadata to locate files within pi generates more data than the files themselves. The software stores file indices and lengths on the local hard drive, which the author frames as a commentary on the growing importance of metadata. The documentation asks, "Why don't we store our file locations there!?! Even better, the location of our files in pi is metadata and as we all know metadata is becoming more and more important in everything we do."
The author explicitly states that the project is an "initial prototype" and a joke on the concept of infinite compression. While the documentation references Moore’s Law as a potential future enabler for practical use, the source material highlights the irony that the necessary metadata negates any theoretical storage savings. The project remains a conceptual exploration rather than a functional storage solution.
