There are several object-oriented ways to access filesystems in Python, though none have reached a critical mass of popularity. Two instances are [http://codespeak.net/py/current/doc/ py.local] and [http://www.jorendorff.com/articles/python/path/ path].
Given that OO interface, you can create objects that look like filesystems but access other resources, like WebDAV servers, databases, etc. py.local contains an implementation that accesses a svn repository.
One of these could be extended, or a generic interface for filesystems could be developed alongside several functional implementations of that interface.
- Take a look at Tcl's virtual file system for some inspiration. -- Brett Cannon