Re: Documenting MS_RELATIME

[Dave Jones <davej@redhat.com>]

On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 09:56:07AM -0800, Michael Kerrisk wrote:
 > Val,
 > 
 > I'm just updating the mount(2) man page for MS_RELATIME, and this is the
 > text I've come up with:
 > 
 >        MS_RELATIME(Since Linux 2.6.20)
 >               When a file on this file system is accessed, only
 >               update  the  file's last accessed time (atime) if
 >               the current value of atime is less than or  equal
 >               to  the file's last modified (mtime) or last sta-
 >               tus change time (ctime).  This option  is  useful
 >               for  programs, such as mutt(1), that need to know
 >               when a file has been read since it was last modi-
 >               fied.
 > 
 > This text is based on your comments accompanying the various patches, but
 > it differs in a respect.  Your comments said that the atime would only be
 > updated if the atime is older than mtime/ctime.  However, what the code
 > actually does is update atime if it is is <= mtime/ctime -- i.e., atime is
 > older than or *or equal to* mtime/ctime.
 > 
 > I'm sure that the code implements your intention, but before incorporating
 > the above text I thought I just better check, since the code differs from
 > your comment.  Can you just confirm that the proposed man page text is okay.

Whilst on the subject of RELATIME, is there any good reason why
not to make this a default mount option ?

		Dave

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