Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sat, 28 Jul 2001 22:51:36 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sat, 28 Jul 2001 22:51:26 -0400 Received: from barbados.bluemug.com ([63.195.182.101]:47120 "EHLO barbados.bluemug.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sat, 28 Jul 2001 22:51:25 -0400 Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 19:51:32 -0700 To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: ext3-2.4-0.9.4 Message-ID: <20010728195132.M30957@bluemug.com> Mail-Followup-To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <20010729011552.B9350@emma1.emma.line.org> <20010729020812.D9350@emma1.emma.line.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20010729020812.D9350@emma1.emma.line.org> X-PGP-ID: 5C09BB33 X-PGP-Fingerprint: C518 67A5 F5C5 C784 A196 B480 5C97 3BBD 5C09 BB33 From: Mike Touloumtzis Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Original-Recipient: rfc822;linux-kernel-outgoing On Sun, Jul 29, 2001 at 02:08:12AM +0200, Matthias Andree wrote: > On Sat, 28 Jul 2001, Rik van Riel wrote: > > > As Linus said, fsync() on the directory. > > Relying on that to work on other operating systems is no better than > demanding synchronous meta data writes: relying on undocumented > behaviour. You are blurring the boundaries between "undocumented behavior" and "OS-specific behavior". fsync() on a directory to sync metadata is a defined (according to my copy of fsync(2)), Linux-specific behavior. It is also very reasonable IMHO and in keeping with the traditional Unix notion of directories as lists of files. I argue that using defined Linux behavior to implement what you want on Linux systems _is_ better than relying on undocumented behavior, and I think most people would agree. If you don't do this you have not really ported the software to Linux; you instead have some standards compliant software that "kinda usually works on Linux". You could argue that no one should localize their software to different versions of Unix, but you would be by far in the minority. http://www.google.com/search?q=autoconf Writing portable Unix software has always meant some degree of system-specific accomodation. It's a bummer but it's life; otherwise Unix wouldn't evolve. miket - 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/