Re: ext3-2.4-0.9.4

Alan Cox
2001-07-30T13:54:41Z

> Chris Mason <mason@suse.com> writes:
>
> > Correct, in the current 2.4.x code, its a quirk. fsync(any object) ==
> > fsync(all pending metadata, including renames).
>
> This does not help. The MTAs are doing fsync() on the temporary file
> and then using the *subsequent* rename() as the committing operation.

Which is quaint, because as we've pointed out repeatedly to you rename
is not an atomic operation. Even on a simple BSD or ext2 style fs it can
be two directory block writes, metadata block writes, a bitmap write
and a cylinder group write.

> It would be nice to have an option (on either the directory or the
> mountpoint) to cause all metadata updates to commit to the journal
> without causing all operations to be fully synchronous. This would

You mean fsync() on the directory.

Alan