Re: multiply files in one (was GNU/Linux stance by Richard Stallman)

Larry McVoy (lm@bitmover.com)
Mon, 29 Mar 1999 10:14:16 -0800

: > The conclusion that I came to as a result of looking at this (and a lot
: > more) data was that the wrong thing to do is worry about single files.
: > What you want to do is to figure out how to put mutiple files in one
: > "file" - essentially make tar be a part of the file system where you put
: > related files in the same "tarball". Then when you access any file -
: > metadata or data - then you schlep in the entire tarball and explode it
: > in memory. Food for thought.
:
: I think the idea is flawed.
:
: You're building a filesystem in a filesystem to overcome your
: "non-optimal" original file system.

Please show me the design of a file system which can bring in multiple
small files with a single seek and read. When you get done, you'll be
looking at what I described.

: As a side note (aprox current US prices):
:
: 9.1 GB UW-SCSI, 7200 rpm harddrive: ~$290
: 18 GB UW-SCSI, 7200 rpm harddrive: ~$600
:
: I paid ~$600 for a 9.1 GB about a year ago (and I still have 2 GB
: free). E.g. the pace of technology is probably against your idea.

I think that maybe you thought the point was disk space. It's not, it's
a performance problem. Consider a directory with a lot of little files.
Each of those little files costs in the 10s of milliseconds to read in.
On your spiffy drives you described, I can read in 10MB in 10ms plus the
seek.

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