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From: Sakari Jalovaara <sja@tekla.fi>
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Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 15:37:36 +0300
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To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: More info on slow "rm" times with 2.2.1+.
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>> Isn't there a command (which could be run in
>> daily, or weekly, or something) that goes through a directory (or many) and
>> optimize the space they take?
>> 
>> If there isn't... why? And would it be hard to write?

OLD=old-directory
NEW=some-unique-name-$$

mkdir "$NEW"
mv "$OLD"/* "$NEW"
# You'd need a little something called "statf" here
# `statf "chmod %m $NEW; chown %u $NEW; chgrp %g $NEW" "$OLD"`
rmdir "$OLD"
mv "$NEW" "$OLD"

You'd have to make sure there are no other processes going through the
directory at the time, though.

I vaguely recall some UNIX variant having Amazing Automagically
Shrinking Directories but I can't remember which one.
									++sja