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Re: [PATCH] Make use of stat.ctime configurable

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Jul 29, 2008, 01:16 UTC
Message-ID
<7vbq0ho5g7.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To
<alpine.LFD.1.10.0807280906530.3486@nehalem.linux-foundation.org>
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> writes:
Show 18 quoted lines
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2008, David Brown wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 08:31:28AM +0200, Alex Riesen wrote:
>> 
>> > because there are situations where it produces too much false
>> > positives. Like when file system crawlers keep changing it when
>> > scanning and using the ctime for marking scanned files.
>> 
>> That's interesting, since most backup software uses the ctime to determine
>> file changes.
>
> It really is just Beagle that is (was? I can dream) a piece of 
> unbelievable crap.
>
> Anybody who uses extended attributes as part of a indexing scheme is just 
> insane. Modifying the file you are indexing is not just fundamentally 
> wrong to begin with, but it will then also be incredibly inefficient to 
> read those entries one at a time.
It's a typo and you are saying it _is_ fundamentally wrong, aren't you?

If you are prepared to pick up new files, you need to crawl everywhere anyway, so if the xattr is used to leave a mark "The last time I looked at this file was this" in the file itself, it does not sound too bad to me. It would be irritating that it touches ctime, though, but I do not use it so it is not my problem ;-)

http://beagle-project.org/FAQ "Do I really need extended attributes?" talks about BEAGLE_DISABLE_XATTR environment variable and interestingly it says disabling use of xattr would slow you down.

Previous: Alex RiesenNext: Linus Torvalds
Message 28 of 41 in “Fix update-index --refresh for submodules if stat(2) returns st_size 0”
  1. Fix update-index --refresh for submodules if stat(2) returns st_size 0Alex Riesen, Jul 21, 2008
  2. Johannes SchindelinJul 21, 2008
  3. Alex RiesenJul 21, 2008
  4. Johannes SchindelinJul 21, 2008
  5. Junio C HamanoJul 22, 2008
  6. Alex RiesenJul 22, 2008
  7. Johannes SixtJul 22, 2008
  8. Alex RiesenJul 22, 2008
  9. Johannes SixtJul 22, 2008
  10. Junio C HamanoJul 22, 2008
  11. Build configuration to skip ctime for modification testAlex Riesen, Jul 22, 2008
  12. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2008
  13. Alex RiesenJul 22, 2008
  14. Junio C HamanoJul 23, 2008
  15. Alex RiesenJul 23, 2008
  16. Johannes SchindelinJul 23, 2008
  17. Alex RiesenJul 23, 2008
  18. Linus TorvaldsJul 25, 2008
  19. Alex RiesenJul 25, 2008
  20. Johannes SchindelinJul 26, 2008
  21. Make use of stat.ctime configurableAlex Riesen, Jul 26, 2008
  22. Junio C HamanoJul 27, 2008
  23. Junio C HamanoJul 27, 2008
  24. Make use of stat.ctime configurableAlex Riesen, Jul 28, 2008
  25. David BrownJul 28, 2008
  26. Linus TorvaldsJul 28, 2008
  27. Alex RiesenJul 28, 2008
  28. Junio C HamanoJul 29, 2008
  29. Linus TorvaldsJul 29, 2008
  30. Junio C HamanoJul 29, 2008
  31. David BrownJul 29, 2008
  32. Junio C HamanoJul 29, 2008
  33. Johannes SchindelinJul 29, 2008
  34. Linus TorvaldsJul 29, 2008
  35. Linus TorvaldsJul 29, 2008
  36. Johannes SchindelinJul 29, 2008
  37. Petr BaudisJul 28, 2008
  38. Improve the placement of core.trustctime in the documentationAlex Riesen, Jul 28, 2008
  39. Junio C HamanoJul 29, 2008
  40. Do not use ctime if file mode is not usedAlex Riesen, Jul 24, 2008
  41. git svn throws locale related error when built from sourceAnton Mostovoy, Jul 23, 2008

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