Hi, On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 09:56:57AM +0100, Pádraig Brady wrote: > On 16/09/10 23:34, Paul Eggert wrote: > > If we're going to make incompatible changes, I suggest that > > we solve the problem once and for all, by having "df" choose > > the default blocksize dynamically, based on the size of the > > output line describing the smallest disk. For example, where > > "df" currently outputs this: > > > > Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on > > /dev/sda1 11620338002 1437021 11618900981 1% /r/opt > > /dev/sda2 20971520 1335871 19635650 7% /home/eggert > > > > "df" would notice that the smallest file system is between 1GB and 1TB, > > so it would default to 1 GB blocks, as follows: > > > > Filesystem 1GB-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on > > /dev/sda1 11900GB 2GB 11898GB 1% /r/opt > > /dev/sda2 22GB 2GB 21GB 7% /home/eggert > > > > This is much more useful as an output format, because one can visually > > see which file systems are larger by seeing how many digits are there. > > Contrast this to the output of df --si: > > > > Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on > > /dev/sda1 12T 1.5G 12T 1% /r/opt > > /dev/sda2 22G 1.4G 21G 7% /home/eggert > > > > which is harder to visually parse that way.
Yes, especially 1.5G of the 12T disk used looks a lot like 1.5T of 1.5T used. > That would break lots of scripts I'd say > (they should use -P, but many don't). That's obvious (all three points, sadly). > In any case I don't think there is enough benefit > in such a format change given the common wide range > of device sizes attached to systems. I like Paul's suggestion. Of course there are corner cases (mounting an older USB stick with e.g. 128MB). The base could be selected by the smallest mounted fixed disk. Erik -- [T]he essence of XML is this: the problem it solves is not hard, and it does not solve the problem well. -- The Essence of XML by Jérôme Siméon, Philip Wadler