From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Sat Mar 14 18:15:01 2009
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F40E1106564A
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:15:00 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from mail@ozzmosis.com)
Received: from smtp.mel.people.net.au (smtp.mel.people.net.au [218.214.17.98])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 370388FC19
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:14:59 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from mail@ozzmosis.com)
Received: (qmail 11901 invoked from network); 14 Mar 2009 18:14:53 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO blizzard.dnsalias.org) (218.215.131.130)
	by smtp.mel.people.net.au with SMTP; 14 Mar 2009 18:14:53 -0000
Received: by blizzard.dnsalias.org (Postfix, from userid 1001)
	id C8FF51746D; Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:15:00 +1100 (EST)
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:15:00 +1100
From: andrew clarke <mail@ozzmosis.com>
To: prad <prad@towardsfreedom.com>
Message-ID: <20090314181500.GA92129@ozzmosis.com>
References: <20090312223713.55535586@gom.home>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <20090312223713.55535586@gom.home>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.19 (2009-01-05)
Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: the pause that removes
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:15:01 -0000

On Thu 2009-03-12 22:37:13 UTC-0700, prad (prad@towardsfreedom.com) wrote:

> one of the neat things i've found about freebsd vs linux is the
> 'instantaneous' rm.
> 
> when you remove a large file or a substantial directory, freebsd does
> it right away ard you get your prompt back, while with every linux i've
> tried, you wait and wait and wait.
> 
> i presume freebsd just takes the pointer to the file out so it can be
> overwritten, while may be the linuxes fill stuff with zeros or
> something like that??
> 
> is this instantaneity a result of the ufs file system vs say ext3 or
> reiser?

I've been under the impression that this (fast deletes) had something
to do with the "soft updates" feature of UFS.  Although, the Wikipedia
page doesn't talk about deleting files in particular, so I could be
completely wrong about that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_updates