Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf.edu!root From: root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: switching file systems Summary: Too much of the usual short-sightedness here. Message-ID: <2453@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> Date: 4 Oct 89 23:35:07 GMT References: <24987@louie.udel.EDU> Organization: Computer Center, UCSF Lines: 39 In article <24987@louie.udel.EDU>, Leisner.Henr@xerox.com (marty) writes: > I think imposing a file system switch and insisting users tar-out + tar-in > is sinful. > > The kernel switch a la V8 is a good idea and should be simple enough. I find it hard to believe that someone as knowledgeable as Marty could have posted this. Trading a one time minor task for a kludge that would complicate the logic of a critical element of the system and would add confusion, overhead, and bug-proneness for the long term isn't sensible. Look, a tar-out + a tar-in is a one time operation and you are going to do the tar-out (or equivalent) anyway, right? You really wouldn't consider bringing up a new system version without backing up your disk would you? Would you? OK, so you're going to to do the back up so you have to have and handle all those disks anyway and the only extra is reading them back in. Now if you put in that switch, you're going to have all this data which is incompatible with assorted programs that expect all the data in the i-node to be correct. But you can't even simulate this because you only have the one date in the i-nodes on the old filesystem. Maybe there are other missing fields that would cause problems; I didn't bother looking -- one is enough. Thos Sumner Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu (The I.G.) UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos BITNET: thos@ucsfcca U.S. Mail: Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're working on death. #include