Linux-Development-Sys Digest #872, Volume #7 Thu, 18 May 00 09:13:14 EDT
Contents:
Port availability under linux (Nicolas Bellardie)
Re: Why no defrag? (Thomas Zajic)
Re: porting NT device drivers to linux (MC)
Re: Why no defrag? (David Steuber)
serial port RTS control ? ("Fred")
Re: porting NT device drivers to linux (Josef Moellers)
SINGAL bad. =?iso-8859-1?Q?=BF?= linux bug ? (David)
Re: Why no defrag? (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Re: Need ideas for university funded project for linux (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Re: Port availability under linux (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Ppp kernel support. What to do? (Francisco Javier Alvarez Rabanal)
Re: Ppp kernel support. What to do? (Josef Moellers)
Re: Why no defrag? (Lew Pitcher)
Re: does linux support RAMDISK??? (Lew Pitcher)
Re: Need ideas for university funded project for linux ("Peter T. Breuer")
Re: does linux support RAMDISK??? (Josef Moellers)
Re: Why no defrag? ("Frank")
Re: Why no defrag? (Christopher Browne)
Re: Why no defrag? (Christopher Browne)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Nicolas Bellardie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.devel
Subject: Port availability under linux
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 11:30:42 +0200
Hi all
I'm experiencing a problem with ports under linux.
I'm developping a server process, and I want to close the socket that
makes a listen
on port X and reopen this socket later on the same port X.
Unfortunately, the port seems to be unavailable the second time.
If I stop the server process and run it again, the port has become
available again.
Another problem I have is every time the server process crashes, the
port is unavailable
for a few minutes. I have heard it was possible to change the value of
the time you have
to wait before using it again. Can anyone tell me how ? Can this feature
be disabled ?
How dangerous would it be to disable it ?
Thanks
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Zajic)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Zajic)
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 09:25:10 GMT
On Thu, 18 May 2000 09:43:52 +0200, Peet Grobler wrote:
> I've seen the question posted to this group many times now, is there
> a defrag for linux? The conclusion is there is not. I'm sitting at my
> desk, thinking, why not?
Because it's not needed. Unlike FAT*, ext2 is an intelligent file
system that takes care of this problem without user intervention.
> Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean,
> can anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
For the same reason that nobody needs to write a program that makes
Windows crash and reboot - it already happens automatically. ;-)
Thomas
--
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
- Thomas "ZlatkO" Zajic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Linux-2.0.38/slrn-0.9.6.2 -
- "It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw." (M. C.) -
=-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------------------------------
From: MC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: porting NT device drivers to linux
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 11:52:14 +0200
I haved already made a port of a PCI Card driver from Windows to
Linux.
The so-called windows driver was a .dll file with bios called
for managing the PCI Card. It was called a driver be had nothing of it.
For me, a driver is a software that is included in the kernel and which
drives the hardware or some other software. It is not a user-space
library. User-space software should not be alowed to do I/O unless
notified.
The linux driver fit what I discribed above. Linux has some
fonction to allow to find easily a PCI Card and enable I/O and
memory access on it.
(for 2.2 series check for pci_find_device, pcibios_present,
pci_read_config_word, pci_write_config_word and request_region)
Then the driver can be called by reading/writing/ioctling the
appropriate /dev/xxxx file.
If you want to set more user-friendly function call (ioctl are
not that much), use some defines in the header.
I'm afraid you'll have to rewrite entirly that driver.
If you're interest in, I'll send you my sources (if i'm
allowed to).
Xav'
On Wed, 17 May 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Hello world....
> This ist the first time I write to a newsgroup.
> Sorry for the mistakes I will made.
>
> Im a student and for my dissertation I have to
> port a NT driver (plus DLL) for a PCI Card to
> LINUX.
> Im a newbie in driverprogramming and Linux but I
> read
> lots of books about it (i.e. Rubini, KHG, LKMPG).
>
> I think the best way for the driver is a module,
> but
> I dont know how to port the dll - is there a
> similar
> concept in Linux or should I write a second
> module for
> it and stack it onto the driver module.
>
> It would be very great if somebody give me advice
> to
> this term.
> General help/hints/tricks/tips to this theme are
> also
> very welcome.
>
> Thanks,
> Michael Palme ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
From: David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 10:00:02 GMT
"Peet Grobler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
' Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean, can
' anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
The specific reason is that the ext2 file system automatically keeps
files contiguous so long as disk space allows it. Presumably this
happens when close() is called after writing to the file.
--
David Steuber | Hi! My name is David Steuber, and I am
NRA Member | a hoploholic.
All bits are significant. Some bits are more significant than others.
-- Charles Babbage Orwell
------------------------------
From: "Fred" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: serial port RTS control ?
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:27:45 +0200
Reply-To: "Fred" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hi all,
I need to force high RTS line of a serial port before sending data and
return it into normal state after transmission.
I don't want a real flow control with RTS / CTS handshaking though, but just
RTS control !
Okay, I'm going to say more :
I've a multipoint half-duplex network (something like RS-485).
So, as there is only two wires for communication, they are used as RxD by
default.
But when RTS is set, this wires are used for TxD...
Under SCO ODT, I set c_cflag to (ORTSFL|RTSFLOW)&~CTSFLOW) with ioctl and
everything works fine
but this masks are not defined in <bits/termios.h> under my RedHat 6.2 :-(
Is it possible to just redefine this mask with SCO values ?
Is there an other way to make RTS working like I need ?
Thanks in advance for all suggestions
Fred
(France)
------------------------------
From: Josef Moellers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: porting NT device drivers to linux
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 13:13:42 +0200
MC wrote:
> =
> I haved already made a port of a PCI Card driver from Windows to
> Linux.
> =
> The so-called windows driver was a .dll file with bios called
> for managing the PCI Card. It was called a driver be had nothing of it.=
> =
> For me, a driver is a software that is included in the kernel and which=
> drives the hardware or some other software. It is not a user-space
> library. User-space software should not be alowed to do I/O unless
> notified.
If you define "driver" to be a software component that directly controls
a hardware port on the system, then you are right: security issues and
interrupt handling surely are preventing user land drivers, although
security may be implemented e.g. by defining devices for I/O ports and
setting the proper access rights on port inodes that are to be accessed.
If you look at the Intel x86 task structure, you will notice that access
to I/O ports can be enabled on a port basis for each task.
OTOH printer drivers and file system drivers can happily run in user
land as can drivers for some more or less unusual SCSI devices (the SCSI
HA driver, whcih controls the SCSI HA chips, cannot, under the current
kernel implementation). These "drivers" usually are implemented in
daemons and have special privileges.
The advantage of having user land drivers is somewhat levelled by having
loadable driver modules, but consider a virtual disk driver that has to
be able to transparently handle local as well as network devices. Also,
given the clean separation between user and kernel mode and the stable
definition of this interface, drivers could be implemented that are
independent of kernel versions. As an example, look at the XFree86
architecture: the drivers that control the graphics cards are purely
user-land, as I understand it.
AFAIK Microkernel architectures have user land drivers to some extent.
Also, a fault tolerant system my company used to sell (Targon/32) had
user land filesystem, "raw device", tape, and terminal drivers, because
the concept only guaranteed fault tolerance for user land tasks, not for
the kernel.
-- =
Josef M=F6llers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SHV Server DS 1
------------------------------
From: David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: SINGAL bad. =?iso-8859-1?Q?=BF?= linux bug ?
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 13:56:31 +0200
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
==============C90D1EE85858B504F06A7ED2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
HI,
I am trying to use si_sigaction to obtain memory direction error, but it
doesnt work.
I have proved it into Solaris System and it works OK.
I have attached the probe file:
sigaltstack.c
I install a signal handler and then I produce bad mem access. The man
says that is_addr should
give me address direction error, but really says that I have access to
0x0 direction memory.
Please can anyone probe the code and send me the output.
THANKS
==============C90D1EE85858B504F06A7ED2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1;
name="sigaltstack.c"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline;
filename="sigaltstack.c"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <signal.h>
void trat_segv ( int s , siginfo_t *si , void *extra ) // __attribute__ (=
( section( ".shared") ))
{
printf( "----SEGV -------------------\n" ) ;
printf( "SIGNAL_NUMBER: %d\n" , si -> si_signo ) ;
printf( "Errno value: %d\n" , si -> si_errno ) ;
printf( "Signal Code: %d\n" , si -> si_code ) ;
printf( "PID_T: %d\n" , si -> si_pid ) ;
printf( "UID_T: %d\n" , si -> si_uid ) ;
printf( "SI_STATUS: %d\n" , si -> si_status ) ; /* Exit value or signal=
*/
printf( "SIGNAL VALUE: %d\n" , si -> si_value ) ; /* Signal value */
printf( "SIGNAL INT: %d\n" , si -> si_int ) ; /* POSIX.1b signal */
printf( "SI_PTR: %d\n" , si -> si_ptr ) ; /* POSIX.1b signal */
printf( "SI_ADDR: %d\n" , si -> si_addr ) ; /* Maemory location which=
caused fault */
printf( "SI_BAND: %d\n" , si -> si_band ) ; /* Band event */
printf( "SI_FD: %d\n" , si -> si_fd ); /* File descriptor */ =
=
exit(0);
}
int main ( )
{
stack_t segv_stack ;
struct sigaction accion; =
segv_stack.ss_sp =3D (void *)malloc( SIGSTKSZ ) ;
segv_stack.ss_size =3D SIGSTKSZ ;
segv_stack.ss_flags =3D 0 ;
printf("Direcci=F3n baja de pila: %p, Direcci=F3n alta de pila: %p\n",
segv_stack.ss_sp, segv_stack.ss_sp+SIGSTKSZ);
if ( sigaltstack ( &segv_stack , 0 ) < 0 )
{
perror( "SIGALTKSTACK: " ) ;
printf( "ARGUMENTOS:\nSP: %p\nSIZE: %d\nFLAGS: %d\n" , =
segv_stack.ss_sp , segv_stack.ss_size , segv_stack.ss_flags=
) ;
return ;
}
=
accion.sa_sigaction =3D trat_segv ;
sigemptyset(&accion.sa_mask);
accion.sa_flags =3D SA_RESTART | SA_NOCLDSTOP | SA_ONSTACK | SA_SIGINFO=
;
sigaction(SIGSEGV, &accion, NULL);
{
int *a =3D (int *)0x1 ;
*a =3D 10 ;
}
return 0 ;
}
==============C90D1EE85858B504F06A7ED2==
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Date: 18 May 2000 11:33:55 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Josef Moellers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Peet Grobler wrote:
>
>> I've seen the question posted to this group many times now, is there a
>> defrag for linux? The conclusion is there is not. I'm sitting at my desk,
>> thinking, why not?
>
>> Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean, can
>> anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
>
>Simply because there is no need for a defrag.
Still someone wrote one. It's called e2defrag. There are at least
redhat and debian packages for it. I've never used it since there is
no need for it, but it does exist.
Mike.
--
Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Need ideas for university funded project for linux
Date: 18 May 2000 11:36:53 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>' Mongoose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>'
>' > >KDE isn't free.
>'
>' > uh what? I don't remember paying for KDE...
>'
>' If I remember the analogy correctly, it's free as in "free beer," but
>' not free as in "free speech." Qt is the bottleneck, I believe.
>
>Unless you plan on porting KDE to Windows, KDE is totaly free. It is
>only the Windows version of Qt that requires you to buy a license.
>And even then, you only need it if your program isn't GPL.
What most people don't like about KDE is that if you port your
commercial program to Linux, you'll have to pay for a Qt license.
Now that in itself is not so bad, but it's not fair. KDE is built
on the kernel, X, gcc, you name it - all free. Yet you have to pay
for this tiny Qt component. I'd rather pay Linus a few bucks for the
kernel, since I feel that's a lot fairer.
Mike.
--
Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Miquel van Smoorenburg)
Crossposted-To: linux.redhat.devel
Subject: Re: Port availability under linux
Date: 18 May 2000 11:39:09 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Nicolas Bellardie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I'm experiencing a problem with ports under linux.
>I'm developping a server process, and I want to close the socket that
>makes a listen
>on port X and reopen this socket later on the same port X.
>Unfortunately, the port seems to be unavailable the second time.
>If I stop the server process and run it again, the port has become
>available again.
Yes. Standard and required behaviour. Use setsockopt() and SO_LINGER
if you want to change it - see man socket(7)
Mike.
--
Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Francisco Javier Alvarez Rabanal)
Subject: Ppp kernel support. What to do?
Date: 18 May 2000 11:42:29 GMT
I've got Red Hat 6.2 with 2.2.12-20 kernel version; it hasn't support for ppp, so my
question is:
Is there an availabel kernel with ppp support or must I rebuild it?
In the second case, can anyone tell me some basic steps abut the rebuild process?
Thanks.
===========================================================
Francisco Javier Alvarez Rabanal
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cedetel. Parque Tecnologico de Boecillo. Edificio Centro.
E-47151 Boecillo (Valladolid) [SPAIN]
Tel.: +34 983 546502 FAX: +34 983 546696
===========================================================
------------------------------
From: Josef Moellers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Ppp kernel support. What to do?
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 14:01:01 +0200
Francisco Javier Alvarez Rabanal wrote:
> =
> I've got Red Hat 6.2 with 2.2.12-20 kernel version; it hasn't support f=
or ppp, so my question is:
> =
> Is there an availabel kernel with ppp support or must I rebuild it?
> =
> In the second case, can anyone tell me some basic steps abut the rebuil=
d process?
I don't think you need to do anything to the kernel. The ppp driver is
compiled as a module.
According to the manual, you can use rp3 (GNOME) or kppp (KDE) to setup
ppp.
-- =
Josef M=F6llers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SHV Server DS 1
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lew Pitcher)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:16:09 GMT
On Thu, 18 May 2000 09:43:52 +0200, "Peet Grobler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>Hello.
>
>I've seen the question posted to this group many times now, is there a
>defrag for linux? The conclusion is there is not. I'm sitting at my desk,
>thinking, why not?
Why do you assume that a defrag program is necessary?
>Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean, can
>anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
There's nothing out here stopping you from writing a defrag program.
>Cheers,
>Peet
Lew Pitcher
System Consultant
Toronto Dominion Financial Group
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(Opinions expressed are my own, not my employer's.)
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lew Pitcher)
Subject: Re: does linux support RAMDISK???
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:18:17 GMT
On Wed, 17 May 2000 20:11:41 +0800, "porsche" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>as title, and how large can it support (4GB for example?)
1) Linux does support 'ramdisk' devices
2) How much memory can you set aside for a ram disk? Remember, a _RAM_
disk uses your _RAM_, so if you want a 4G ramdisk, you had better have
more than 4G of _RAM_ in your system.
Lew Pitcher
System Consultant
Toronto Dominion Financial Group
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(Opinions expressed are my own, not my employer's.)
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Need ideas for university funded project for linux
Date: 18 May 2000 12:19:01 GMT
In comp.os.linux.development [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
: Mongoose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
: I want to click on a damn button and have the program install. I want
: the option to do it by hand if I have to, but installing anything on
: Linux is a nightmare if you have to build it from the source. Note
I do it for everything on my system, and I never have the least
trouble. I suspect you mean "it's a nightmare for those who can't".
: also that "make install" will occasionally break, depending on your
: distribution. And they all seem to be going in tangential directions
: on this one.
I use slackware and debian, and have no problems with either. I'd never
touch redhat with a bargepole, since it's as nonstandard as hell. But
even srpms' come ready-packaged. One just has to open them,
look at their spec file and makefile, edit to taste, and go. Apply
whatever patches look neccessary after examining them closely and
with suspicion. Remove all RH non-standard placements, and fire.
: There's just no excuse for not having an adequate installer. We have
The installers I have are very adequate (make and tar). And from what
I've seen the distros have excellenet installers too. I can understand
peoples problems with rpm, because it never brought anything to the
table except obscurantism (yes, slackware already had all the tools
and options in tgz, except for something that prevented you breaking
your own dependencies, and why would you ..). Apt-get solves most things
in debian .. it has a layering problem, in that you can import
something with apt-get and then install it with dpkg, which may leave you
needing to upgrade something else and apt-get didn't get a chance
to warn you. I had this experience recently when I upgrade libc6
and broke cucipop .. just the pop3 function. It took me a week to
discover and upgrade cucipop. I imagine that the breakage wasn't known
at the time I upgraded libc6.
: two excellent package-management tools, dpkg (and apt) and rpm. All
: we have to do is put a shiny new GUI front-end on them.
: Not that I am bitter.
:-)
Peter
------------------------------
From: Josef Moellers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: does linux support RAMDISK???
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 14:39:09 +0200
Lew Pitcher wrote:
> =
> On Wed, 17 May 2000 20:11:41 +0800, "porsche" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> =
> >as title, and how large can it support (4GB for example?)
> =
> 1) Linux does support 'ramdisk' devices
> 2) How much memory can you set aside for a ram disk? Remember, a _RAM_
> disk uses your _RAM_, so if you want a 4G ramdisk, you had better have
> more than 4G of _RAM_ in your system.
Why, you can always swap out to disk what you can't keep in RAM!
SCNR,
-- =
Josef M=F6llers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SHV Server DS 1
------------------------------
From: "Frank" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 12:49:30 GMT
Miquel van Smoorenburg <8g0kf3$mbv$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
^
^ Still someone wrote one. It's called e2defrag. There are at least
^ redhat and debian packages for it. I've never used it since there is
^ no need for it, but it does exist.
^
I suppose anyone can write one:
int main(void)
{
fprintf(stdout, "Defragmenting drives... ");
sleep(900);
fprintf(stdout, "done\n");
return(0);
}
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Browne)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 13:08:55 GMT
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when Peet Grobler would say:
>I've seen the question posted to this group many times now, is there a
>defrag for linux? The conclusion is there is not. I'm sitting at my desk,
>thinking, why not?
It sure _is_ a frequently asked question; apparently Executive
Software, authors of defrag software for VMS and Windows, have done as
successful a job of convincing people they need defragmenting as their
"parent organization" (the Church of Scientology) has done of
convincing people that they need "emgram audits" and "removal of their
thetans."
Much as with unusual cultic religious practices, there is little
_rational_ reason to worry about daily defragmentation on Linux. That
is a phenomenon associated with "other religions."
>Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean, can
>anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
Specifically, the program you suggest has not been written is in fact
locatable at <ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/>.
The _real_ point is that there is little point to the exercise, as
unlike the VMS and Windows FAT (and friends) filesystems, Linux does
not suffer badly from fragmentation except when filesystems get
extremely full, at which point there is little to be done about the
issue.
Furthermore, active work is ongoing on filesystems like ReiserFS to
cope with the "problem areas" of news spools and the like, which is
the main place where things tend to fragment. When you change
filesystems, the sorts of tools available change...
--
"Microsoft builds product loyalty on the part of network
administrators and consultants, [these are] the only people who really
count in the Microsoft scheme of things. Users are an expendable
commodity." -- Mitch Stone 1997
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - - <http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/linuxkernel.html>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Browne)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Why no defrag?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 13:08:56 GMT
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when Lew Pitcher would say:
>On Thu, 18 May 2000 09:43:52 +0200, "Peet Grobler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>wrote:
>>I've seen the question posted to this group many times now, is there a
>>defrag for linux? The conclusion is there is not. I'm sitting at my desk,
>>thinking, why not?
>
>Why do you assume that a defrag program is necessary?
The hefty marketing by Executive Software, maybehaps?
>>Is there any specific reason for defrag not being written? I mean, can
>>anybody tell me something that would stop me from writing one?
>
>There's nothing out here stopping you from writing a defrag program.
Actually, the process of looking into it is probably prohibitive in
and of itself.
Steps:
1. Gentle user decides to write "defrag-ext2"
2. Gentle user goes off and reads ext2 code in kernel.
3. Somewhat enlightened gentle user starts writing code that fiddles
around with ordering of blocks, coalescing as needed.
4. Irritated more-enlightened user finds some files "nuked" by that
process, due to not fully understanding the format.
5. After further investigation, enlightened user realizes that the
shifting around of data on the disk doesn't actually do anything
to improve performance, and thus isn't worth the programming
effort.
6. Experienced user decides that maybe it's better to clean up the
one partition where cleanup has merit by using their backup;
reformats the filesystem, and recovers the data.
--
Rules of the Evil Overlord #98. "If an attractive young couple enters
my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they
are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if
circumstance have forced them together against their will and they
spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except
during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others'
lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will
immediately order their execution." <http://www.eviloverlord.com/>
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - - <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
------------------------------
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Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.development.system) via:
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Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
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sunsite.unc.edu pub/Linux
End of Linux-Development-System Digest
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