Re: size of files in /proc

Kevin Lentin (kevinl@cs.monash.edu.au)
Tue, 19 May 1998 10:28:36 +1000

On Sat, May 16, 1998 at 11:00:28AM -0400, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> >
> > Well, /proc/kcore already reports its actual size...
>
> And it isn't about to change at runtime either. That is the size
> of installed memory. I've yet to see a single person
> successfully insert or remove a SIMM/DIMM while a machine was
> running. If they did, and it was successful, the linux code will
> update the filesize. ;o)

And even if you could resize memory, kcore could update it's size. The
reason kcore shows its size is that the size is known. And it's also
relevant! For most of the text files in /proc, you'd have to actually call
the 'read' function to determine the size each time a readdir was done.
Sounds like a very wasteful pursuit to me.

I think that any /proc file whose size can be determined without generating
its contents, might as well report it. But generating contents to determine
size seems silly. And that's the only way you'll do it.

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