Re: O_DIRECT question

[Linus Torvalds]

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007, Nick Piggin wrote:
>
> We are talking about about fragmentation. And limiting pagecache to try to
> avoid fragmentation is a bandaid, especially when the problem can be solved
> (not just papered over, but solved) in userspace.

It's not clear that the problem _can_ be solved in user space.

It's easy enough to say "never allocate more than a page". But it's often 
not REALISTIC.

Very basic issue: the perfect is the enemy of the good. Claiming that 
there is a "proper solution" is usually a total red herring. Quite often 
there isn't, and the "paper over" is actually not papering over, it's 
quite possibly the best solution there is.

		Linus
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