Delayed writes on removed files
Amos Shapir
amos at taux01.UUCP
Wed Apr 27 08:03:11 AEST 1988
Here is something new for a change: When a file is removed, its blocks
are released to the free list. If any writes were done, some of these
blocks may still be in the buffer pool, waiting for a delayed write.
When such buffers are reallocated, they will be written to the disk,
even though their contents are no longer relevant.
The systems I have checked - 4.2 and sysV.3 - make no effort to prevent
this. It seems that in an environment in which many files are created,
written to, and then discarded (e.g. compilation) preventing unnecessary
writes to disk may have a significant effect on overall system
performance. Does anyone know of a system that does this, and how?
--
Amos Shapir (My other cpu is a NS32532)
National Semiconductor (Israel)
6 Maskit st. P.O.B. 3007, Herzlia 46104, Israel Tel. +972 52 522261
amos%taux01 at nsc.com 34 48 E / 32 10 N
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