On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 07:37 +1000, Neil Brown wrote: > On Tuesday April 10, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 07:12 +1000, Neil Brown wrote: > > > > > > Is there something that makes that interface problematic? > > > > File deletions... > > How are they a problem ? > > There are only two ways to organise a directory. > 1/ Unsorted linear list of entries in which no repacking is ever done. > 2/ Some data structure using an ordered search key that is based on > the filename (e.g. a B-tree with a search key that is a hash of the > filename). > > In the first case, you just use a fixed opaque cookie for location in > a directory. > In the second you use the filename. If the file has been deleted, > that shouldn't stop you finding the place where it would have been in > the overall sort order.
I beg to differ. RAMFS is an instance of a filesystem which uses an unsorted linear list of entries which is automatically repacked when you delete a file. You may also have filesystems which are only partially sorted. The dcache is for instance organised as a hashtable with multiple entries per bucket... Cheers Trond - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/