Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net> writes: > > Yes, it makes sense. However what other possibilities do we have actually? > > Change the kernel, or find a way to make fts do what we > want without the added cost.
We have already asked the kernel folks if they would be willing to make readdir () report accurate d_ino values for mount points, and they complained that it would be too expensive to guarantee correct d_ino information compared to the number of clients that don't care whether it is correct. But they did mention the possibility of perhaps adding some sort of flag, or a new d_type, which identifies mount points, and which the application can then use to make it obvious that a stat() is necessary to get reliable inode information for _just that directory_. This seems like yet another case where convincing the kernel folks to GIVE us this information would be helpful. Just knowing whether a directory is a mount point will give us the power to know whether we need to stat() it after automounting, without penalizing the common case of a directory that is not a mount point. Since mount point semantics are squarely on the shoulders of the kernel, please consider pushing harder for a fix to come from the kernel, rather than a workaround in coreutils. -- Eric Blake
