Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!unido!isaak!leonardo!woerz
From: woerz%leonardo@isaak.isa.de (Dieter Woerz)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: INEWS's use of the link() function on multiple filesystems
Summary: Do it more intelligent, use link and cp or symlink when appropriate
Keywords: link, cp, symlink
Message-ID: <3051@isaak.isa.de>
Date: 11 Jul 90 19:01:57 GMT
References: <1925@anomaly.sbs.com> <689@sci34hub.UUCP>
Sender: news@isaak.isa.de
Organization: ISA GmbH, Stuttgart, West-Germany
Lines: 66

In article <689@sci34hub.UUCP> gary@sci34hub.sci.com (Gary Heston) writes:
<In article <1925@anomaly.sbs.com> mike@anomaly.sbs.com (Michael P. Deignan) writes:
<<I've run into an interesting problem with INEWS which I'm wondering if
<<anyone else has encountered.
<  ...
<< ...
<<Unfortunately, INEWS uses the link() function, which will not work
<<successfully across filesystems.
<<
<< [ possible workaround deleted ]
<<
<<I was wondering if anyone else has done this, or has a suggestion as to
<<how we might go about it...
<
<<<Because of our filesystems' I-Node limit of 65500 inodes/filesystem, we
<<were thinking of dividing our news filesystem as follows:
<<
<<	/dev/news	mount as	/usr/spool/news
<<	/dev/comp	mount as	/usr/spool/news/comp
<<	/dev/rec	mount as	/usr/spool/news/rec
<<
<<This would effectively yield over 180,000 inodes for our filesystem, more
<<than enough to manage our 14 day expiration cycle on articles.
<
< ...
<If you really want all those articles around, and have the space on
<your system, replace the link() function call with a cp. You'll have
<duplicate files, probably costing you 15-20% more disc space (as a
<guess--I haven't researched crossposted article activity), but it'll
<work.

If you are doing it the way described above, you should do it more
intelligently and replace the link function with one of your one,
which checks, if the article would be on the other file system and use
Doing it right, would involve replacing the link function doing the
following (written in some sort of pseudo-code):

    if (both files on the same filesystem)
    	link()
    else
    	if (symbolic links available)
    	    symlink()
    	else
    	    copy()

But if you are doing it with symbolic links, you have to change expire
to either copy the article to a newsgroup, where there is a symbolic
link to that article and change the other "links" to the new location
of the article (either by making them hard links or leaving them as
symbolic links, but changing the pointer), until there are no more links
to the article. Or you just leave the article in the original group
(don't expire it), until there are no more links to the article.

<-- 
<    Gary Heston     { uunet!sci34hub!gary  }    System Mismanager
<   SCI Technology, Inc.  OEM Products Department  (i.e., computers)
<"The esteemed gentleman says I called him a liar. That's true, and I
<regret it." Retief, a character created by Keith Laumer.



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