[coreutils] Re: [Bug-tar] [PATCH] improved sparse file detection

[Eric Blake]

[adding coreutils]

On 08/24/2010 09:17 AM, Bernd Schubert wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> for improved stat() performance the Lustre filesystem uses entirely empty
> sparse files on its metadata target (MDT). Now with hundredes of millions of
> sparse file of huge sizes, creating a backup of of the MDT using vanilla
> gnu-tar is basically impossible, as it needs far too much time to detect
> sparse files.

Coreutils cp(1) has recently started using code to efficiently iterate 
over the locations of all holes within sparse files, with the goal of 
eventually being able to target both Linux ioctls and Solaris SEEK_HOLE 
directives.  I think that could also be leveraged rather nicely for 
tar's detection of sparse files, by stopping the iteration after the 
first hole has been found; in particular, it would rapidly detect files 
that are not completely sparse (whereas the description of your patch 
implies that you only address the subset of quickly detecting a 
completely sparse file, but offer no speedup on partially sparse files). 
 Thus, coreutils' sparse file management is a great candidate for 
migrating into gnulib and sharing among several projects.

Meanwhile, if you are indeed correct that there are easy ways to detect 
completely sparse files, even when the ioctl or SEEK_HOLE directives are 
not present, then the coreutils cp(1) hole iteration routine should 
probably be taught that corner case to recognize an entirely sparse file 
as a single hole.

> PS: I'm used to linux-style indentation and I'm not sure if I did it the right
> way. If it is wrong, please complain and I will try to reformat it.

Thanks for taking the time to contribute a patch.  However, the diffstat 
says that your patch is large enough to fall outside the bounds of 
trivial submissions, so I quit reading it to avoid any copyright issues. 
 Would you be willing to assign copyright to the FSF?  If so, we can 
start the paperwork process off-list.

--
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org