From: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.bugs
Title: Re: bug in du(1) (also in find(1)!!!)
Article-I.D.: qubix.231
Posted: Thu Apr 21 08:51:41 1983
Received: Mon Apr 25 08:30:11 1983
References: stolaf.886

So find(I) and du(I) will blow up if you have 2048 entries in your
directory (though some may be deleted)...

At a former place of employment (several UNIX systems), there was
a user who had all of his files in his login directory - no
subdirectories. There were hundreds of files there. Whenever he
accessed his files, the system practically ground to a halt. When
some of us hacks found this out, we got the administrator to get
him to change his act. He did leave one legacy: his login, "hwy,"
led to the designation of such monstrosities as "highway-sized
directories," or simply "highways."

One should not wait for find or du to blow up. A directory that
needs indirect addressing in the filesystem is big enough.
Anything approaching highway-size should have the owner blown up
(via disassociation of particles or whatever).

				Larry Bickford
				decvax!decwrl!qubix!lab