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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:1251 comp.os.linux:56363 Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!uunet!super!becker From: becker@super.org (Donald J. Becker) Subject: Re: FYI.. benchmarks on linux and 386bsd Message-ID: <1993Oct15.201511.16475@super.org> Sender: news@super.org (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: descartes Organization: IDA Supercomputing Research Center References: <2CB12A8D.17397@news.service.uci.edu> <MYCROFT.93Oct6054959@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> <29klpf$8ae@kralizec.zeta.org.au> Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1993 20:15:11 GMT Lines: 38 In <MYCROFT.93Oct6054959@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> mycroft@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum) writes: >1) When diddling lots of small files or other operations on file >system metastructure, one must consider that Linux uses write-behind >for this and therefore risks serious file system corruption should the >machine crash. (Back when Linux crashed a couple of times per day for >me, I had no end of file system corruption which caused me to have to >reinstall. I assume it does not crash that often now, but this is >still a serious bug.) This also makes Linux's file systems faster. I find the Linux filesystems to be very robust and reliable in the face of crashes. Over the past week I crashed my machine countless times developing the EtherExpress driver. I want a fast reboot cycle, so I haven't run a fsck the whole time, but my file system still shows no signs of corruption. On the other hand, I was playing with a brand-new Solaris-based Sparc a few months ago. I had been "just switch off" _once_ after it complained about not finding the OS media. That was enough to fatally scrog the pre-installed FS, and thus install program. This changed a "fast, easy install" into hours of making new file systems and seeing it they worked with the OS install disk. Now people might claim that these are unique occurrences, but the only way to judge file system reliability is real-world experience. Theoretically reliable file systems can still have out-of-order-write bugs, and risky file systems can have very narrow windows of vulnerability. In article <29klpf$8ae@kralizec.zeta.org.au>, Bruce Evans <bde@kralizec.zeta.org.au> wrote: >A measly 10 to 20 times faster. This is one thing makes Linux "feel" >much faster (up to 10 to 20 times :-) than 386BSD. I value "perky" highly. -- Donald Becker becker@super.org IDA Supercomputing Research Center 17100 Science Drive, Bowie MD 20715 301-805-7482