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Overlayfs allows one, usually read-write, directory tree to be
overlaid onto another, read-only directory tree.  All modifications
go to the upper, writable layer.

This type of mechanism is most often used for live CDs but there's a
wide variety of other uses.

The implementation differs from other "union filesystem"
implementations in that after a file is opened all operations go
directly to the underlying, lower or upper, filesystems.  This
simplifies the implementation and allows native performance in these
cases.

The dentry tree is duplicated from the underlying filesystems, this
enables fast cached lookups without adding special support into the
VFS.  This uses slightly more memory than union mounts, but dentries
are relatively small.

Currently inodes are duplicated as well, but it is a possible
optimization to share inodes for non-directories.

Opening non directories results in the open forwarded to the
underlying filesystem.  This makes the behavior very similar to union
moun...