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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: The better (more suitable)Unix?? FreeBSD or Linux
Date: 16 Feb 1996 23:10:05 GMT
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Lines: 34
Message-ID: <4g32sd$esr@park.uvsc.edu>
References: <4er9hp$5ng@orb.direct.ca> <4fg8fe$j9i@pell.pell.chi.il.us> <311C5EB4.2F1CF0FB@FreeBSD.org> <4for2b$art@park.uvsc.edu> <jlemonDMttxH.JyJ@netcom.com>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:14484 comp.os.linux.development.system:18178
jlemon@netcom.com (Jonathan Lemon) wrote:
] >] I would suggest instead simply trying sync vs async on your
] >] own system, being as (in)cautious as you care to be in the
] >] transition, and then post your experiences. People need
] >] concrete evidence here, not abstract debate.
] >
] >Anecdotal evidence is not evidence:
] >
] > "XXX OS has not crashed while I was using it, therefore
] > XXX OS never crashes"
]
] Bah Humbug indeed. Since this was crossposted to c.o.l.d.s, I went over there
] to take a peek. Guess what I found? Not one, not two, but at least _three_
] users who have had problems with ext2fs. Now, I'm _NOT_ claiming that this is
] an inherent problem with ext2fs, and it may not even have anything to do with
] the async/sync issue. But it is "concrete evidence" (Jordan's term) to refute
] the "anecdotal evidence" (Terry's term).
Jordans formulation might have resulted in people claiming
stability for async writes because they could claim "I didn't
have a problem on my machine!".
Experimentally, it's only possible to prove instability, never
stability, and there is no guarantee that if you are unable
to trigger an instability that one does not exist anyway.
My problem is with the method yielding subjective results.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.