Re: debian kernel modifications

2001-03-22 Thread David Wright
Quoting Ron Peterson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]):
 Debian FAQ item 7.2 says that The kernel (filesystem) in Debian
 GNU/Linux systems supports replacing files even while they're being
 used.
 
 How is this accomplished?

When you, say, run a program called fred, the OS finds the inode
for the file from the directory. When the file is opened, only
the inode is used as a handle; the directory is not reconsulted.

Therefore you can now remove the directory entry for fred, or
create a new version of the file which will have a new inode
to store its contents, and a new directory entry pointing to it.

The old inode and the associated diskspace will be recovered when
programs using it terminate, as there's no directory entry pointing
to it any more.

This is standard functionality for inode-type filesystems.

Cheers,

-- 
Email:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Tel: +44 1908 653 739  Fax: +44 1908 655 151
Snail:  David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA
Disclaimer:   These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify
official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.



debian kernel modifications

2001-03-20 Thread Ron Peterson
Debian FAQ item 7.2 says that The kernel (filesystem) in Debian
GNU/Linux systems supports replacing files even while they're being
used.

How is this accomplished?  If I roll my own kernel, do I need to patch
it first to support this functionality?  Are there any other
Debian-specific kernel patches to be aware of?

-- 
Ron Peterson
Network  Systems Manager
Mount Holyoke College
GPG and other info at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~rpeterso



Re: debian kernel modifications

2001-03-20 Thread brian moore
On Tue, Mar 20, 2001 at 03:18:05PM -0500, Ron Peterson wrote:
 Debian FAQ item 7.2 says that The kernel (filesystem) in Debian
 GNU/Linux systems supports replacing files even while they're being
 used.
 
 How is this accomplished?  If I roll my own kernel, do I need to patch
 it first to support this functionality?  Are there any other
 Debian-specific kernel patches to be aware of?

No.  It's Normal Behavior from *nix

There's no special magic, other than the care taken by installers to do
things correctly.

-- 
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