Hello,
The FAQ[1] states that soft updates result in "a large performance
increase in disk writing performance," and links to a resource[2] which
claims that soft updates, in addition to being a performance
enhancement, "can also maintain better disk consistency." Resource 2
links to several academic papers[3][4], which while they are a bit above
my level, contain discussions of how soft updates can increase
performance and speed recovery on crash.
My question is: what are the downsides of soft updates? Also, does
journaling provide a better data-safety guarantee?
Thank you,
Currell Berry
[1]http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#SoftUpdates
[2]http://www.mckusick.com/softdep/
[3]https://www.usenix.org/legacy/publications/library/proceedings/usenix99/mckusick.html
[4]https://www.usenix.org/legacy/publications/library/proceedings/usenix2000/general/seltzer.html
