[ I originally sent this directly to Tobi and Alex.  Given their
  e-mail addresses are published, I suspect they must get a jillion
  spam messages a day.  I'm posting this here. ]

Hi,

I'm using RRD and did some reserch to determine the difference between
CDEV and VDEF.  I came across the following link:

   [http://osdir.com/ml/db.rrdtool.devel/2006-03/msg00001.html]

I followed the reply-to's and found the original poster didn't follow
up with the request to update the .pod

I found Alex's information clear and mostly took it and placed it in
the attached .diff  I made very minor modifications.

Please review and let me know if there are any changes you'd like me
to roll in.

Thank you for such an awesome tool; the submission is the least I can
do to say thank you.  :)
-- 
Pablo Sanchez - Blueoak Database Engineering, Inc
Ph:    819.459.1926      Fax:   760.860.5225 (US)

Index: rrdgraph_data.pod
===================================================================
--- rrdgraph_data.pod	(revision 1796)
+++ rrdgraph_data.pod	(working copy)
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 
 B<CDEF>:I<vname>=I<RPN expression>
 
+B<CDEV> versus B<VDEF>
+
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
 These three instructions extract data values out of the B<RRD> files,
@@ -90,6 +92,33 @@
 
 Example: C<CDEF:mydatabits=mydata,8,*>
 
+=head1 CDEF versus VDEF
+
+This section attempts to clarify the difference between B<CDEF> and
+B<VDEF>.
+
+At some point in processing, B<RRDtool> has gathered an array of rates
+ready to display.
+
+B<CDEF> works on such an array.  For example, I<CDEF:new=ds0,8,*>
+would multiply each of the array members by eight (probably
+transforming bytes into bits). The result is an array containing the
+new values.
+
+B<VDEF> also works on such an array but in a different way.  For
+example, I<VDEF:max=ds0,MAXIMUM> would scan each of the array members
+and store the maximum value.
+
+=head2 When do you use B<VDEF> versus B<CDEF>?  
+
+Use B<CDEF> to transform your data prior to graphing.  In the above
+example, we'd use a B<CDEF> to transform bytes to bits before
+graphing the bits.
+
+You use a B<VDEF> if you want I<max(1,5,3,2,4)> to return five which
+would be displayed in the graph's legend (to answer, what was the
+maximum value during the graph period).
+
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<rrdgraph> gives an overview of how B<rrdtool graph> works.
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