Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1765446AbZDBWhy (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Apr 2009 18:37:54 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1762077AbZDBWhF (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Apr 2009 18:37:05 -0400 Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.25]:51648 "EHLO out1.smtp.messagingengine.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1761596AbZDBWhD (ORCPT ); Thu, 2 Apr 2009 18:37:03 -0400 Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 09:36:59 +1100 From: Bron Gondwana To: david@lang.hm Cc: Matthew Garrett , Theodore Tso , Sitsofe Wheeler , "Andreas T.Auer" , Alberto Gonzalez , Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: Ext4 and the "30 second window of death" Message-ID: <20090402223659.GC6898@brong.net> References: <200904010002.47077.info@gnebu.es> <49D2A5AB.1090704@ursus.ath.cx> <20090401015010.GB4529@mit.edu> <20090401052050.GA20456@sucs.org> <20090401151219.GA12285@srcf.ucam.org> <20090401173521.GA15423@mit.edu> <20090401174336.GA14726@srcf.ucam.org> <20090402182925.GA4502@srcf.ucam.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: Organization: brong.net User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1482 Lines: 38 On Thu, Apr 02, 2009 at 11:44:20AM -0700, david@lang.hm wrote: > let's not talk a database here, let's talk something simpler, like a POP3 > mail client (even though I strongly favor IMAP ;-) > > it wants to have the message saved before it deletes it from the server. > > how should it try to do this? > > the only portable method is to fsync the file after it's written and > before sending the delete to the server. > > so your mail client _should_ issue fsync calls. > > however, some (many, most??) users would probably be willing to loose a > little e-mail to gain a significant increase in battery life on their > laptops. Obviously it should do a spamminess test. If the sender is in your addressbook/whitelist then fsync it, otherwise if it looks spammy, don't bother. Seriously, there's no way of telling which emails are the really important job offer/flight confirmation/invitation from that really cute girl you met that one time... ... lots of data is like that. It's usually not important except when it really, really is - and the average user don't want to be babysitting every single decision about importance. "Your email program wants to spin up the disk to store a message, confirm or deny" Bron. -- 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/