Re: Manual page for mount
On Fri, 2005-12-09 at 19:58 -0700, Bob Proulx wrote: > All of your discussion about 'mount' sounds great. But you sent your > message to the bug-coreutils mailing list. So I have to ask, what led > you to here? > > You may want to try the home page: > > ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/ > Many thanks for the link. Me bad ! I followed a couple of links on google, one referenced mount in the same context as coreutils - it seemed to make sense at the time. Sorry for the noise :-) Jon ___ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
Re: Manual page for mount
All of your discussion about 'mount' sounds great. But you sent your message to the bug-coreutils mailing list. So I have to ask, what led you to here? You may want to try the home page: ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/ Bob Jonathan Andrews wrote: > The "sync" and "async" options have an impact on disk caching, yet the > manual pages avoid the term "cache" - I assume being careful to be > general about capabilities of the underlying kernel. > > This does make it difficult for people trying to find options relating > to disk cache behaviour, could the "sync" and "async" options be changed > to refer to disk caches explicitly. > > > For example, sync currently reads. > > All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. In case of > media with limited number of write cycles (e.g. some flash drives) > "sync" may cause life-cycle shortening. > > > Something like this may be more meaningful to a lot of users, it may > oversimplify things with the use of the term "cache", but in most cases > its the reference users are looking (searching) for. > > "All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. This > effectively removes kernel disk caching for the device causing more > writes to occur. Media with limited write cycles, flash for example, > will age prematurely. > > > Thanks, > Jon ___ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
Re: Manual page for mount
I have always thought that the very name "sync" is completely misleading. The option really has nothing at all to do with IO being synchronous or asynchronous, you can still perform IO either way ( think non blocking and linux async IO ). What this option really does is simply cause the cache to switch to write-through mode instead of write-back mode. I would have it say: "All I/O to the file system should be synced to the disk immediately. This effectively changes kernel disk caching for the device from write-back to write-through mode, causing more writes to occur. Media with limited write cycles, flash for example, will age prematurely. Many operations may be slowed down significantly by use of this option, but the filesystem will be more up to date in the event of a system crash." Jonathan Andrews wrote: The "sync" and "async" options have an impact on disk caching, yet the manual pages avoid the term "cache" - I assume being careful to be general about capabilities of the underlying kernel. This does make it difficult for people trying to find options relating to disk cache behaviour, could the "sync" and "async" options be changed to refer to disk caches explicitly. For example, sync currently reads. All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. In case of media with limited number of write cycles (e.g. some flash drives) "sync" may cause life-cycle shortening. Something like this may be more meaningful to a lot of users, it may oversimplify things with the use of the term "cache", but in most cases its the reference users are looking (searching) for. "All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. This effectively removes kernel disk caching for the device causing more writes to occur. Media with limited write cycles, flash for example, will age prematurely. Thanks, Jon ___ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
Manual page for mount
The "sync" and "async" options have an impact on disk caching, yet the manual pages avoid the term "cache" - I assume being careful to be general about capabilities of the underlying kernel. This does make it difficult for people trying to find options relating to disk cache behaviour, could the "sync" and "async" options be changed to refer to disk caches explicitly. For example, sync currently reads. All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. In case of media with limited number of write cycles (e.g. some flash drives) "sync" may cause life-cycle shortening. Something like this may be more meaningful to a lot of users, it may oversimplify things with the use of the term "cache", but in most cases its the reference users are looking (searching) for. "All I/O to the file system should be done synchronously. This effectively removes kernel disk caching for the device causing more writes to occur. Media with limited write cycles, flash for example, will age prematurely. Thanks, Jon ___ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
