From owner-freebsd-hackers Mon Oct 19 09:30:00 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id JAA20983 for freebsd-hackers-outgoing; Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:30:00 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from austin.polstra.com (austin.polstra.com [206.213.73.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA20978 for ; Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:29:57 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jdp@austin.polstra.com) Received: from austin.polstra.com (jdp@localhost) by austin.polstra.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id JAA13755; Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:28:02 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jdp) Message-Id: <199810191628.JAA13755@austin.polstra.com> To: jamie@itribe.net Subject: Re: softupdates and sync In-Reply-To: References: Organization: Polstra & Co., Seattle, WA Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:28:02 -0700 From: John Polstra Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG In article , Jamie Bowden wrote: > > sync(8) just calls sync(2). sync(2) just starts the buffer flush - it > > does not wait for the flush to complete. This has always been true > > and is the origin of the `type sync 3 times before halting system' > > mantra. > > This mantra has never made any sense to me. The process of halting the > system is unmounting filesystems, which will force syncing before umount > happens. I have never bothered to manually sync a filesystem prior to a > shutdown, reboot, or halt command. Right -- it's just a ritual and it isn't necessary. I do it anyway, because it makes me feel like I'm living right. I guess it's the Unix heathen's substitute for prayer. :-) -- John Polstra jdp@polstra.com John D. Polstra & Co., Inc. Seattle, Washington USA "Self-knowledge is always bad news." -- John Barth To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message