On 12/03/2013 08:23 PM, Josh Berkus wrote: > On 12/03/2013 10:59 AM, Joshua D. Drake wrote: >> This seems rather half cocked. I read the article. They found a problem, >> that really will only affect a reasonably small percentage of users, >> created a test case, reported it, and a patch was produced. > > "Users with at least one file bigger than 50% of RAM" is unlikely to be > a small percentage. > >> >> Kind of like how we do it. > > I like to think we'd have at least researched the existing literature on > 2Q algorithms (which is extensive) before implementing our own. Oh, > wait, we *did*. Nor is this the first ill-considered performance hack > pushed into mainline kernels without any real testing. It's not even > the first *that year*. > > While I am angry over this -- no matter what Kernel.org fixes now, we're > going to have to live with their mistake for 3 years -- the DirectIO > thing isn't just me; when I've gone to Linux Kernel events to talk about > IO, that's the response I've gotten from most Linux hackers: "you > shouldn't be using the filesystem, use DirectIO and implement your own > storage." > > That's why they don't feel that it's a problem to break the IO stack; > they really don't believe that anyone who cares about performance should > be using it.
reading that article I think this is an overreaction, it is not kernel.orgs fault that distributions exist and bugs and regression happen in all pieces of software. We are in no way different and I would like to note that we do not have any form of sensible performance related regression testing either. I would even argue that there is ton more regression testing (be it performance or otherwise) going into the linux kernel (even on a relative scale) than we do and pointing the finger at something they are dealing with once noticed. If we care about our performance on various operating systems it is _OUR_ responsibility to track that closely and automated and report back and only if that feedback loop fails to work we are actually in a real position to consider something as drastical as considering a platform "undependable" or looking into alternatives (like directIO). Stefan -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers