Patent ID: 8438196

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, the second directory stores only files identified by a second file extension, the first and second file extensions are distinct, 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; 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; receiving a second request to open a second file that is contained in the file system, wherein the second request comprises a second file system path, wherein the second file system path comprises a second file name, and wherein the second file name comprises the second file extension; detecting whether a layer comprising at least one file comprising the second file extension is activated, wherein the detecting whether the layer comprising the at least one file comprising the second file extension is activated comprises accessing the activation list; modifying the second file system path by adding, to the second file system path, a redirect path component that comprises the identities of the second, third, and fourth directories to the second file system path, wherein the modifying the second file system path is performed by a computing device implementing the file system.