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Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 10:22:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Gerhard Mack <gmack@innerfire.net>
To: David Balazic <david.balazic@uni-mb.si>
cc: otto.wyss@bluewin.ch, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Linux should better cope with power failure
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This sounds very nice.. can such a thing be done with the reset switch as
well?

	Gerhard


On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, David Balazic wrote:

> I had a similar experience: 
> X crashed , hosing the console , so I could not initiate
> a proper shutdown.
> 
> Here I must note that the response you got on linux-kernel is
> shameful.
> 
> What I did was to write a kernel/apmd patch , that performed a
> proper shutdown when I press the power button ( which luckily
> works as long as the kernel works ).
> 
> Ask me for details, if interested.
> The patch was for 2.2.x IIRC, so I would have to rewrite it almost
> from scratch.
> 
> 
> Otto Wyss (otto.wyss@bluewin.ch) wrote :
> 
> > Lately I had an USB failure, leaving me without any access to my system 
> > since I only use an USB-keyboard/-mouse. All I could do in that 
> > situation was switching power off and on after a few minutes of 
> > inactivity. From the impression I got during the following startup, I 
> > assume Linux (2.4.2, EXT2-filesystem) is not very suited to any power 
> > failiure or manually switching it off. Not even if there wasn't any 
> > activity going on. 
> > 
> > Shouldn't a good system allways try to be on the save side? Shouldn't 
> > Linux try to be more fail save? There is currently much work done in 
> > getting high performance during high activity but it seems there is no 
> > work done at all in getting a save system during low/no activity. I 
> > think this is a major drawback and should be addressed as fast as 
> > possible. Bringing a system to save state should allway have a high priority. 
> > 
> > How could this be accomplished: 
> > 1. Flush any dirty cache pages as soon as possible. There may not be any 
> > dirty cache after a certain amount of idle time. 
> > 2. Keep open files in a state where it doesn't matter if they where 
> > improperly closed (if possible). 
> > 3. Swap may not contain anything which can't be discarded. Otherwise 
> > swap has to be treated as ordinary disk space. 
> > 
> > These actions are not filesystem dependant. It might be that certain 
> > filesystem cope better with power failiure than others but still it's 
> > much better not to have errors instead to fix them. 
> > 
> > Don't we tell children never go close to any abyss or doesn't have 
> > alpinist a saying "never go to the limits"? So why is this simple rule 
> > always broken with computers? 
> > 
> > O. Wyss 
> 
> -- 
> David Balazic
> --------------
> "Be excellent to each other." - Bill & Ted
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--
Gerhard Mack

gmack@innerfire.net

<>< As a computer I find your faith in technology amusing.

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