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From: tim@crackle.amd.com (Tim Olson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: What kind of things would you wnat in the GNU OS
Message-ID: <25848@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 4 Jun 89 21:11:30 GMT
References: <19829@adm.BRL.MIL> <6275@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Sender: news@amdcad.AMD.COM
Reply-To: tim@amd.com (Tim Olson)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sunnyvale CA
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In article <6275@cs.Buffalo.EDU> ugkamins@sunybcs.UUCP (Dr. Chandra) writes:
| Rex_E._Robards.DlosLV@xerox.com wrote:
| =>Three things that should not be in an efficient OS:
| =>	1) virtual memory
| =>	2) symbolic links
| =>	3) long file names (BSD directories)
| 
| VM: nice, but certainly not efficient.  Point well taken.

Efficient in what sense?  VM makes more efficient use of "relatively
scarce" main memory -- processes only need to keep their working sets in
memory instead of their entire image.  This potentially allows more
processes to run than would normally fit in main memory.

| symlinks: somewhat stupid in the first place, to me.  There are
|   already normal links.  About the only advantage I can see is that
|   when copying files, links duplicate files whereas symlinks can be
|   "detected" and remade on the destination device/directory.  Not sure
|   how they impact on EFFICIENCY though.

Try linking to a file on another file system without symlinks!

	-- Tim Olson
	Advanced Micro Devices
	(tim@amd.com)