Primarily based on material in Chapter 4 of Tanenbaum; you may wish to consult the book by Sobel for linking, as well your notes for this question.

Four users of a Linux system (user1, user2, user3, and user4) carry out the following operations given in the following steps in the given order.

a) user1 creates a file and names it f1. This file is made accessible to all users for read, write, and execute.

b) user2 puts a hard link to the file created in Step (a) and calls the file f2.

c) user3 puts a hard link to the file created in Step (a) and calls the file f3.

d) user1 deletes f1.

Answer the following questions.

i) How many i-nodes are created in Step(a)?

ii) How many i-nodes are created in Step(b)?

iii) How many i-nodes are created in Step(c)?

iv) Where are the file names f1, f2, and f3 stored? State the answer for each file name.

v) Where is the information on protection for the file stored?

vi) Where is the information about the hard links created by users user2 and user3 (Steps (b) and (c)) stored?

vii) After Step (d), is user2 able to access the file f2? Explain. viii) Assume no further links are created for the file in question. What has to happen after Step (d) before the i-node for the file created in Step (a) is marked as free? Explain.