Re: Implementing Meta File information in Linux (and a note at the

Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH (allbery@kf8nh.apk.net)
Wed, 02 Sep 1998 22:14:10 -0300

In message <199809030159.LAA11039@vindaloo.atnf.CSIRO.AU>, Richard Gooch
writes
:
+-----
| Brandon S. Allbery writes:
| > OS/2, etc. Of course, at this point the claim could be made that one
| > doesn't need the fcntl() stuff, just the library (but! it will perform
| > horribly unless the "structured file" is really a file and a backing (e.g.)
|
| Can you explain why you think that keeping the metadata in a normal
| file and splitting the data streams in userspace is going to be slow?
+--->8

Try updating it with a different-sized chunk. Either you (a) rewrite the
whole thing or (b) mark the chunk as free and then have to garbage collect
(amounting to (a)) regularly to keep the file from eating the filesystem.
---Remember, in the structured file, format-wise, there's no real difference
between the data and the metadata; so you run into trouble even if you don't
touch the metadata.

(There's some evidence that the hugeous OLE whatsits which masquerade as
Word, Excel, etc. files are an attempt at (b) with *no* attempt at garbage
collection. At least, none unless you uncheck "fast save" occasionally.)

-- 
brandon s. allbery	[os/2][linux][solaris][japh]	 allbery@kf8nh.apk.net
system administrator	     [WAY too many hats]	   allbery@ece.cmu.edu
electrical and computer engineering					 KF8NH
carnegie mellon university






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