On Thu, 2004-01-15 at 15:42, Matthew Gregan wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2004 at 02:14:28PM +1300, Michael JasonSmith wrote:
> > An inode is, by definition, a list of blocks that contain the file
> > associated with the inode. Inodes perform the same basic job under
> > ReiserFS, NTFS (yes, NTFS is an inode-based FS), UFS, BSD-FFS...
>
> I suggest you do a bit more reading about inodes and reiserfs before you
> make such bold claims.
Ok... ReiserFS uses inodes. I was confused at first because their main
documents do not explicitly refer to inodes, however, the ReiserFS FAQ
does refer to inodes, as does the Features page and the source-code.
What does the source say... Oh, I see what you are getting at! Yes, the
inodes under ResierFS do not directly contain the addresses of the
blocks that contain the data. The inodes under ReiserFS, like a lot of
inode-based file systems, store the list in a data-structure that is
external to the inode itself. This, however, is an implementation
detail that does not effect the basic concept of an inode, which (in my
own clumsy way) I was talking about :)
I suppose the canonical general-purpose definition of what an inode is
is from Tanenbaum[1]:
[an inode] lists the attributes and disk addresses of the file's
blocks.
When discussing the implementation of Unix file-systems Tanenbaum
introduces the concept of indirect-blocks: essentially what ReiserFS
uses.
(I have done a fair amount of reading about inodes so I could create the
presentation on the basics of file-systems for Carl Cerecke ;) )
[1] Tanenbaum, Andrew S, Modern Operating Systems, Prentice-Hall, New
Jersey, 2001
--
Michael JasonSmith http://www.ldots.org/
