werner2d ago

S3 Files and the changing face of S3

https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2026/04/s3-files-and-the-changing-face-of-s3.html

S3 Files and the changing face of S3

Andy Warfield writes about the hard-won lessons dealing with data friction that lead to S3 Files

All Things Distributed
Show threadgonzalohm
I cannot 100% confirm this, but I believe AWS insisted a lot in NOT using S3 as a file system. Why the change now?
Apr 7 at 8:28pmWeb
Show threadLazyMans1d ago
They found a way to make money on it by putting a cache in front of it. Less load for them, better performance for you. Maybe you save money, maybe you dont.
Show threadyandie1d ago

It appears that they put an actual file system in front of S3 (AWS EFS basically) and then perform transparent syncing. The blog post discusses a lot of caveats (consistency, for example) or object namings (incosistencies are emitted as events to customers).

Having been a fan of S3 for such a long time, I'm really a fan of the design. It's a good compromise and kudos to whoever managed to push through the design.

Show threadPunchyHamster1d ago
Because people will use it as filesystem regardless of the original intent because it is very convenient abstraction. So might as well do it in optimal and supported way I guess ?