Re: If not readdir() then what?

From: Neil Brown
Date: Tue Apr 10 2007 - 17:37:51 EST


On Tuesday April 10, trond.myklebust@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 07:12 +1000, Neil Brown wrote:
> >
> > Is there something that makes that interface problematic?
>
> File deletions...

How are they a problem ?

There are only two ways to organise a directory.
1/ Unsorted linear list of entries in which no repacking is ever done.
2/ Some data structure using an ordered search key that is based on
the filename (e.g. a B-tree with a search key that is a hash of the
filename).

In the first case, you just use a fixed opaque cookie for location in
a directory.
In the second you use the filename. If the file has been deleted,
that shouldn't stop you finding the place where it would have been in
the overall sort order.

NeilBrown
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