Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758814AbYCNUxU (ORCPT ); Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:53:20 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754774AbYCNUxH (ORCPT ); Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:53:07 -0400 Received: from fxip-0047f.externet.hu ([88.209.222.127]:51473 "EHLO pomaz-ex.szeredi.hu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754673AbYCNUxF (ORCPT ); Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:53:05 -0400 To: staubach@redhat.com CC: miklos@szeredi.hu, drepper@redhat.com, viro@ZenIV.linux.org.uk, bharata@linux.vnet.ibm.com, libc-alpha@sourceware.org, jblunck@suse.de, ezk@cs.sunysb.edu, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, hch@lst.de, cmm@us.ibm.com, haveblue@us.ibm.com In-reply-to: <47DABBAF.4040005@redhat.com> (message from Peter Staubach on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:53:51 -0400) Subject: Re: [RFC] Union mount readdir support in glibc References: <20080311055527.GA7256@in.ibm.com> <47D9F6CC.6010009@redhat.com> <20080314053925.GA10722@ZenIV.linux.org.uk> <47DA257C.9060409@redhat.com> <47DABBAF.4040005@redhat.com> Message-Id: From: Miklos Szeredi Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:51:39 +0100 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1238 Lines: 33 > >>> Actually, do we really need it other than to 0 and to current position > >>> (i.e. full rewind and a no-op)? > >>> > >> Ever heard of the little function "telldir"? > >> > > > > Actually, telldir/seekdir is already broken for some filesystems (NFS > > comes to mind). POSIX was really crazy to require a working seekdir > > implementation, and userspace should quickly start _not_ using it. > > > > > > What makes you think that telldir/seekdir don't work for NFS? http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.fuse.devel/5124 It turned out to be due to incorrect NFS behavior if files are removed between telldir and seekdir. So it does work sometimes, but does not seem to correctly handle all cases. I have no idea if this is an issue in the server, the client or the protocol. What is certain, is that seekdir/telldir is a really bad interface, that just makes life difficult for filesystem implementors, without any real gain. It deserves to die. Miklos -- 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/