On 8 April 2012, at 19:21, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
> …
> And (optionally) convert all the files and directories to use extends:
>
> find <directory> -xdev -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chattr +e
> find <directory> -xdev -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chattr +e
Ok, so I was just casually reading the chattr manpage, following this post…
The letters `acdeijstuADST' select the new attributes for the files:
append only (a), compressed (c), …
A file with the `c' attribute set is automatically compressed on the
disk by the kernel. A read from this file returns uncompressed data.
A write to this file compresses data before storing them on the disk.
COMPRESSED?!?!
You mean, all I need to do is `touch new.dd.img && chattr +c new.dd.img && dd
if=/dev/sdX of=new.dd.img` and I never again need to worry about piping dd
through bzip and bunzip?
If I have a massive great big uncompressed dd image, I can compress it as
simply as touching a new file, changing this attribute on the new file and
copying it over?
Is there a reason I've been unaware of this? Why isn't this hugely popular?
Stroller.
