Subject: rename, file system errors Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1991 15:53:55 +0200 From: Linus Benedict Torvalds <torvalds@cc.helsinki.fi>
kw@dde.dk (Kurt Wachmann), tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o) et al:
> Rename needed [rephrasing]
Yeah, it'll be implemented. Hopefully not even by me :-), as
darken-christian showed some interest. I'll do it if nobody else does,
but it will take some time. Currently you can always use "tar" and
"rm -rf" to move a directory (but look out for a full filesystem).
There are quite a few problems with rename, most of which have been
mentioned here (and that's why I left rename unimplemented :-). I
wouldn't say checking the filename is a good idea: it breaks when linux
gets symbolic links. I think the easiest way is to move downwards from
the "to"-directory via ".." until one hits root (or a mount-point) or
the "from"-directory. It shouldn't be hard, it's just SMOP.
tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o):
> Speaking of hard disk corruptions, I've found an easy way to get Linux
> to corrupt the hard disk. Simply follow the following instructions:
[ "Nice" little script deleted. ]
Happily, things aren't that bad (I think). I don't think it's a
buffer-cache problem (which is hell to find - lots of race conditions
etc. I kno - I had those kinds too), but a problem with handling "out
of disk space". That's still bad, but easier to spot. Could you
(tytso) check if the partition filled up? It's probably a bug in one of
tha namei.c-routines which want a new block, and crap out if they cannot
get it. I'll look.
I just tried copying my gcc-1.40 directory using tar, and it moved 9MB
of diskspace quite happily from one drive to another (ok, it took a
while, but no fsck errors).
somebody (my mind is going..):
> Do I use USG, SYSV or what when porting?
I've used USG/SYSV when porting everything, and have had no real trouble.
The biggest trouble in minix when porting was with the bad "termios" (ie
minix has no such thing). Linux has a relatively complete termios, so
that's no problem (and termio also works).
Thinks that need very SYSV specific things like shared memory or
whatever, are of course not currently possible to port easily.
Linus
PS. I'm still wondering about the floppy drivers. Has nobody else had
any problems with them? I haven't had an IO error in ages, and it seems
a bit weird as the floppy interface should be relatively similar across
all PC-clones. Oh, well, I'll look into it. I hope it isn't some timing
problem (which are "somewhat" difficult to spot).