Re: [LAD] NSM - handling large files

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 08:53:26PM +0000, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 09:07:07PM +0200, Lieven Moors wrote:
>
> > Would there be anything against using hard links?
>
> A hard link makes the file pointed to part of the session
> directory, just as moving or copying the file would. There
> is no difference between a hard link and the original - both
> are hard links. So such a file is no longer recognisable as
> 'external' and the choice of including it or not in an archive
> or a copy no longer exists. That defeats the original purpose
> which is to have this choice.

But if the hardlinks would be in an 'external files' directory
managed by the session manager only, you would still have
that choice when you make the archive.

Though I agree this is only based on convention...

>
> Apart from that, hard links are possible only within the
> same file system. There are good reasons to keep big audio
> files etc. on a separate one. That in itself is a motivation
> for 'external' data in first place. I don't want hundreds of
> Gigabytes of audio files on my /home partition, let alone in
> my home directory.

You could make a symbolic link to a directory with hardlinks
managed by the SM. Then the SM would spread like a giant octopus ;-)

Well, only kidding...

I agree that the arguments against them are very strong.
But I must say, there is something seductive about them.

If you want to delete the originals without the fear of destroying
your sessions, go ahead. If you want to cleanup a session, tell
the session manager to delete the hardlinks for that session,
and delete the originals yourself.

If you want an archive, tell the SM to copy all the 'external files'
directories. Session management can exist in parallel with normal
filesystem activity.

And most importantly, never worry about those dreadful broken links...

But still I agree, on a more fundametal level, that hardlinks
are a bad idea.

lieven
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Received on Sat Mar 31 00:15:03 2012