Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265224AbUAEDOh (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 22:14:37 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265868AbUAEDOg (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 22:14:36 -0500 Received: from parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk ([195.92.249.252]:15771 "EHLO www.linux.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265224AbUAEDOg (ORCPT ); Sun, 4 Jan 2004 22:14:36 -0500 Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 03:14:35 +0000 From: viro@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk To: Jeremy Maitin-Shepard Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: st_dev:st_ino Message-ID: <20040105031434.GB4176@parcelfarce.linux.theplanet.co.uk> References: <20040104034934.A3669@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104142111.A11279@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <20040104230104.A11439@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <200401042335.i04NZqQZ029910@turing-police.cc.vt.edu> <87k747w4ow.fsf@jbms.ath.cx> <20040105014755.GB24410@mark.mielke.cc> <87llontap1.fsf@jbms.ath.cx> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <87llontap1.fsf@jbms.ath.cx> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 800 Lines: 16 On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 09:02:02PM -0500, Jeremy Maitin-Shepard wrote: > In order to efficiently implement tar, it is necessary to store the > inode numbers for files with a link count greater than 1 in a hash > table. It would not be practical to keep open all of these files in > order to ensure that the inode numbers remain valid. Thus, a different > unique identifier is needed, which is unique even for files that are not > open. Files that are not open could've been removed and replaced with something completely different since your stat(2). - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/