From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg?= Schummer Subject: Re: [PATCH take 2][RFC] fat: Save FAT root directory timestamps to volume label Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:47:15 +0300 Message-ID: <1248691635.4618.43.camel@jorg-desktop> References: <1248274841-3586-1-git-send-email-ext-jorg.2.schummer@nokia.com> <1248428635-26073-1-git-send-email-ext-jorg.2.schummer@nokia.com> <87fxclmhxy.fsf@devron.myhome.or.jp> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Cc: "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , "linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org" To: ext OGAWA Hirofumi Return-path: Received: from smtp.nokia.com ([192.100.105.134]:62239 "EHLO mgw-mx09.nokia.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756016AbZG0Krq (ORCPT ); Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:47:46 -0400 In-Reply-To: <87fxclmhxy.fsf@devron.myhome.or.jp> Sender: linux-fsdevel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Sat, 2009-07-25 at 07:48 +0200, ext OGAWA Hirofumi wrote: > Jorg Schummer writes: >=20 > > Standard FAT implementations cannot store any of the FAT root direc= tory's > > timestamps. This commit adds the mount option 'rootts', which allow= s saving > > the FAT root directory timestamps as the timestamps of the FAT volu= me label > > directory entry. At least Mac OS X is known to support the same mec= hanism > > and interoperate with this commit. Hi, I guess I should have explained a bit more: > Looks like interesting hack. However, personally, I don't think I wan= t > this, but I guess it can be only me. If you don't want this functionality to be used, as pointed out before, "rootts=3Dignore" is the default. If you don't want this patch.. There's probably good reasons not to tak= e it, especially the amount-of-problem-solving-by-maintenance-cost ratio might be rather low. > Well, so, what is this for? If rootdir doesn't have timestamp, some a= pp > is not working, or something? To be honest, the only app which I can think of here is some backup-script which I wrote many years ago and which has not been in us= e anymore for a long time. (Maybe rsync or similar could also fail under some circumstances? Not sure.) So some backup / synchronisation apps might not work properly. But who'= s going to use FAT for sensitive, i.e. backup-worthy data anyway? The answer is: People who use the same volume in many different machines, some of which might be able to speak only FAT. Drawback: Just for these people this patch might not be useful since none of those FAT machines (except for the apple and possibly the penguin) support root dir timestamps anyway. So whatever timestamps are found at backup-time, the= y cannot be trusted, because the volume might have been in use by standar= d =46AT implementations. In summary: If you're not keen on integrating new features which would make Linux look good in the face of shiny Mac OS, there might not be much reason to take it in. Unless we get zillions of people replying no= w with what wonderful things it would enable them to do.. ;-) Regards, J=C3=B6rg -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-fsdevel= " in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html