FileSystems

public final class FileSystems
extends Object

Factory methods for file systems. This class defines the getDefault method to get the default file system and factory methods to construct other types of file systems.

The first invocation of any of the methods defined by this class causes the default provider to be loaded. The default provider, identified by the URI scheme "file", creates the FileSystem that provides access to the file systems accessible to the Java virtual machine. If the process of loading or initializing the default provider fails then an unspecified error is thrown.

The first invocation of the installedProviders method, by way of invoking any of the newFileSystem methods defined by this class, locates and loads all installed file system providers. Installed providers are loaded using the service-provider loading facility defined by the ServiceLoader class. Installed providers are loaded using the system class loader. If the system class loader cannot be found then the platform class loader is used. Providers are typically installed by placing them in a JAR file on the application class path, the JAR file contains a provider-configuration file named java.nio.file.spi.FileSystemProvider in the resource directory META-INF/services, and the file lists one or more fully-qualified names of concrete subclass of FileSystemProvider that have a zero argument constructor. The ordering that installed providers are located is implementation specific. If a provider is instantiated and its getScheme returns the same URI scheme of a provider that was previously instantiated then the most recently instantiated duplicate is discarded. URI schemes are compared without regard to case. During construction a provider may safely access files associated with the default provider but care needs to be taken to avoid circular loading of other installed providers. If circular loading of installed providers is detected then an unspecified error is thrown.

This class also defines factory methods that allow a ClassLoader to be specified when locating a provider. As with installed providers, the provider classes are identified by placing the provider configuration file in the resource directory META-INF/services.

If a thread initiates the loading of the installed file system providers and another thread invokes a method that also attempts to load the providers then the method will block until the loading completes.

Summary