On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 05:43:54PM +1000, Lindsay Roberts wrote: > On 7/26/07, Pavel Machek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If the fs is read-only.. can we do some tail packing and get _both_ > > speed and space efficiency? > > You mean don't block align files of size less than 1k, and > intelligently pack them into the gaps left by files that are aligned? > Does seem that most noticeable performance issues occur on sequential > reads of large files, this sounds like a good idea, but I would > welcome comments on this. > > Also I assume romfs currently has a small hidden benefit as a result > of it storing its file data serially after the inode: the initial read > of the inode reads and therefore caches the block containing the > (initial) file data. Obviously with block aligned file data this only > applies if sequential prefetching is performed. I'd be interested to > know if this is an issue worth regarding.
It seems to me that the initial design goals of romfs were: a) space efficiency b) simplicity ..with performance basically ignored. On an actual ROM-backed filesystem, alignment doesn't help you until it becomes large enough that you can execute pages in place. And I don't think your reproduceability concern was even on the radar. So naming a new filesystem romfs which has the priorities: a) performance b) reproduceability seems like it's going to disappoint and confuse people who were aligned with the original goals. -- Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
