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From: doolitt@recycle.cebaf.gov (Larry Doolittle)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: The better (more suitable)Unix?? FreeBSD or Linux
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.system
Date: 16 Feb 1996 13:49:23 GMT
Organization: CEBAF
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Terry Lambert (terry@lambert.org) wrote:
: Unordered writes (the result of async writes without delay
: ordering) are not only "arguably" unsafe, they are *provably*
: unsafe using stochastic methods and/or relatively simple
: mathematical models you can find in almost any textbook on
: database theory (a file system is a type of database).
They are only unsafe if the system crashes. My experience
with Linux is that it _doesn't_crash_. I can't speak for
FreeBSD, but I can't imagaine you will tell me it's worse.
If you care about your data, the system will be on a UPS.
If your software is buggy and it crashes, _fix_the_bugs_.
If your hardware is buggy and it crashes, either replace it
or move your critical data to some other machine. All this
sync/async/ordered/log filesystem hoo-rah is interesting and
fun, but don't lose sight of the goals:
1. System runs the software you need
2. System stays up forever
3. System runs fast
Everything else is ..er.. of trivial importance.
: A UPS is insufficient, unless you are willing to certify your
: OS a "bug free" and "graceful in the face of resource starvation".
Maybe not in theory, but yes in practice. My pentium ran for
six months before I had to shut it down because of an extended
power outage.
- Larry Doolittle ldoolitt@cebaf.gov