* read a file into a string or several files into a map of path names to strings
* download a file or set of files to a temporary file (on a mounted file system)
* get the SHA1 hash of a file
-* get various properties of a file (stat information, content time, mime information, ...)
+* get various properties of a file (stat information, content time, MIME information, ...)
On directories:
* get a list of files directly under a directory