*BSD News Article 37749


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From: kenh@entropic.com (Ken Hornstein)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.386bsd.misc
Subject: Re: LINUX SUCKS!!!!
Date: 1 Nov 1994 12:32:45 -0500
Organization: Entropic Research Lab, Washington, DC.
Lines: 26
Message-ID: <395u3t$ape@epiwrl.entropic.com>
References: <085334Z20101994@anon.penet.fi> <1994Oct28.041604.589@escape.widomaker.com> <38up48INN1o5e@rs1.rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE> <CHRISB.94Nov1123540@stork.cssc-syd.tansu.com.au>
NNTP-Posting-Host: epiwrl.entropic.com

In article <CHRISB.94Nov1123540@stork.cssc-syd.tansu.com.au>,
Chris Bitmead <chrisb@stork.cssc-syd.tansu.com.au> wrote:
>In article <38up48INN1o5e@rs1.rrz.Uni-Koeln.DE> se@FileServ1.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE (Stefan Esser) writes:
>
>>The filesystem is one of the parts, where 
>>BSD is far more advanced than Linux, in 
>>both speed and robustness (nobody in their
>>right mind would use the option to switch 
>>off synchronous metadata updates under BSD,
>>since this might void your filesystem in 
>>case of a crash, as is the default under
>>Linux).
>
>Nobody in their right mind would want it turned on since it could cause
>crap meta-data if the system crashes. Better to do it the other way round.
>Write your data first and then update your meta-data.

There's one thing about this approach that I don't understand: if you write
your data blocks first and your system dies before the meta-data gets written,
how do you know where the data blocks are?  If you write the meta-data first,
your filesystem recovery program can at least figure out if your meta-data
is bogus or not.

Polite replies welcome.

--Ken