kconfig's file handling (was: XFS: how to NOT null files on fsck?)

[Oswald Buddenhagen]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2004 at 02:31:43PM +0200, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> There is nothing to fix, we already use a tempfile + rename, it's in
> KSaveFile since 1999.
>
oh, indeed. i didn't dig deep enough. sorry for the noise.
the symlink case is handled differently, though (and it falls back to
in-place rewriting too early - the symlink target could be potentially
handled without in-place rewriting as well). consequently the paragraph
about in-place rewriting is valid, even if it is only a border case.

another thing to consider is a complete audit of kde regarding the
creation of files; i'm sure not everybody uses KSaveFile or equivalent
code. no, i don't volunteer. :}

> As far as I can see the problem is that the filesystem writes out the
> meta data before the actual file data hits the disk which creates a
> period of time in which the on-disk state of the filesystem contains
> trashed files.
>
yup

> I believe ReiserFS actually has an option to do things in a sane order
> so that it doesn't trash recently used files on an unclean shutdown.
> 
not only reiserfs.

> The sentiment among filesystem developers seem to be that they don't
> care if they trash files as long as the filesystem itself remains in a
> consistent state. This kind of dataloss is the result of that
> attitude, either go complain with them if it bothers you, or use a
> filesystem that does it right.
> 
the code is there, the additional integrity just doesn't come for free,
so it's disabled by default.

greetings

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