Re: cachefs module for linux?

Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH (allbery@kf8nh.apk.net)
Tue, 08 Jun 1999 18:19:40 -0400

In message <Pine.LNX.4.10.9906080958540.28339-100000@cyrix200.lameter.com>, Chr
istoph Lameter writes:
+-----
| > cachefs comes in really handy, too, setting up "diskless" machines with
| > nothing but NFS cache and swap space.
|
| Just allow NFS to use the standard Linux cache more efficiently via a
| mount parameter and all should be well. cachefs is the wrong solution.
+--->8

Err, no. First, you assume that the Linux cache can be arbitrarily large
(or at least that enough memory is available to cache reasonable working
sets); second, cachefs is persistent across reboots, which the Linux buffer
cache cannot be.

There's also the fact that AFS, DFS, and Coda all have a cachefs-equivalent
built into them: reads and writes are redirected to the local vice cache,
which is synced on close. This isn't merely because it's somehow easier than
using the OS buffer cache.

-- 
brandon s. allbery	[os/2][linux][solaris][japh]	 allbery@kf8nh.apk.net
system administrator	     [WAY too many hats]	   allbery@ece.cmu.edu
carnegie mellon / electrical and computer engineering			 KF8NH
     We are Linux. Resistance is an indication that you missed the point.


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