Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 13:56:40 +1000 From: Peter Jeremy <jeremyp@gsmx07.alcatel.com.au> To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Storing small files in inodes Message-ID: <99Oct28.135145est.40328@border.alcanet.com.au>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I'd like to float the possibility of storing small (<= 60 bytes) files and maybe directories inside inodes, in the same manner as short symlinks are stored. Looking through my main system, about 12.5% of inodes are allocated to short files and a further 3.5% are allocated to short directories. Advantages: - Faster access to the file (since the inode contains the contents, rather than a pointer to the contents). - In my case, saving about 1.3% of disk space though this would increase if I moved to a larger fragment size. Disadvantages: - Filesystem media incompatability Programs affected (based on the programs that have special handling for symlinks via MAXSYMLINKLEN or fs_maxsymlinklen): - fsck(8), fsdb(8) and dump(8) - libstand/ufs.c The kernel handling would be more complex than for symlinks because files additionally have the ability to be mmap'd and updated, but I don't believe the problems are insurmountable. Comments? Peter -- Peter Jeremy (VK2PJ) peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au Alcatel Australia Limited 41 Mandible St Phone: +61 2 9690 5019 ALEXANDRIA NSW 2015 Fax: +61 2 9690 5982 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?99Oct28.135145est.40328>