On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Ed Carp wrote:
> Uh, folks? That wasn't the point. Using /etc/passwd WAS AN EXAMPLE.
> There are LOTS of flat files in UNIX that have this problem. Stop
> trying to solve specific problems - solve the generic ones, it'll go a
> lot farther.
Uh, the point is that the main problem of flat files is in speed loss.
Naturally, this will only be evident in files that have a large number of
entries, and the only examples which I can think of at the moment are
/etc/passwd and the /proc files used by ps and top. As others have
pointed out, there are several solutions to the problem with /etc/passwd.
ASCII files are always friendlier to humans, and it is always better to
stick with them unless there is a very compelling reason to switch. /proc
stuff is still under discussion, but if there is any way to improve speed
without switching to a binary system, we should try it out. We certainly
don't want to mess with existing /etc files.
----------------------------------------------
Andrew McNabb
Argus Systems Group
amcnabb@argus-systems.com
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