Are we making use of all the items that is provided in a contents file? And are all of them used equal number of times or is there something that is used very rarely? And do we have duplication of data in the contents file? For example, we have package name in each line. The size of the contents file can be reduced (may be a small percentage only), by removing package name from each line and having it as a header......!
Is it not possible to compact the data and thus reduce the size? I think indexing is a very good idea......but it will increase the number of files that we have to deal with. But, if that can help in improving the performance, why not try it? -Narendra On 12/15/06, Gregory Shaw <Greg.Shaw at sun.com> wrote: > > You bring up a good point -- if the shared components and files were > separated, would performance benefit? > Perhaps a 'shared' contents file, and a 'files' contents file along with > an index? > > Hmm... probably not, based on the complexity required. > > Other than that, I have to agree with others on the list. We've got a > database of filenames, and to allow select-update operations and better > performance, you'll end up with a database access method. > > A new API for the contents file would be required (something that > front-ends whatever the back-end DB might be), but I wonder if that won't > need to be there for future flexibility. > > I personally like the idea of using the built-in postgresql. If it were > functional out-of-the-box, DB operations for many of the large flat files > could be migrated into the DB. > > Just a thought. > > On Dec 14, 2006, at 3:43 PM, James Carlson wrote: > > Gregory Shaw writes: > > Would it be practical to break the contents file into an index of the > packages, and a for each package name? > > > We've been over that ground as well. > > The contents file is currently a documented part of the system (see > contents(4)), and, more importantly, there are applications that have > come to depend on it. > > Without that, yes, you can break up the file, as long as you figure > out some reasonable way to handle shared components (such as > directories). As Dave said, there are likely other things that need > to be addressed. > > -- > James Carlson, KISS Network <james.d.carlson at sun.com> > Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 > MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677 > > > ----- > Gregory Shaw, IT Architect > Phone: (303) 673-8273 Fax: (303) 673-2773 > ITCTO Group, Sun Microsystems Inc. > 500 Eldorado Blvd, UBRM02-157 greg.shaw at sun.com (work) > Broomfield, CO 80021 shaw at fmsoft.com (home) > "When Microsoft writes an application for Linux, I've Won." - Linus > Torvalds > > > > > _______________________________________________ > install-discuss mailing list > install-discuss at opensolaris.org > http://opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/install-discuss > > > -- Warm Regards, Narendra Visit my blogs at: http://ssnarendrakumar.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/ssnkumar ___ ___ __ _ / __/ / __/ / | / / _\ \ _ \ \ / /| |/ / \___/ \___/ /_/ |__/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/install-discuss/attachments/20061215/65d7dc7a/attachment.html>
