Patent ID: 8782105

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a first request to open a first file that is contained in a file system, wherein the file system comprises first, second, third, and fourth directories, the first and second directories are sub-directories of the third directory, the third directory is a sub-directory of the fourth directory, the first directory stores only files identified by a first file extension, and the first request comprises a first file system path, wherein the first file system path comprises a first file name, and wherein the first file name comprises the first file extension; detecting whether a layer comprising at least one file comprising the first file extension is activated, wherein the detecting comprises accessing an activation list, and the layer comprises at least one sub-layer; modifying the first file system path by adding, to the first file system path, a redirect path component that comprises the identities of the first, third, and fourth directories to the first file system path; creating the at least one sub-layer, wherein the creating comprises specifying at least one capture criteria for each of the at least one sub-layer, and the at least one capture criteria identifies an aspect of items stored in the at least one sub-layer; updating the activation list, wherein the updating comprises adding at least one entry for the each of the at least one sub-layer to the activation list; and rendering items included in the layer and the at least one sub-layer accessible via a virtual file system.