Re: [netcdfgroup] Wondering about when NetCDF data hits the disk...

Hi,

Am Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:43:42 -0600
schrieb Russ Rew <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Just out of curiosity, did you try using the NF90_SHARE flag on the
> create/open calls in the writing and reading processes to see if that
> makes any difference?

I did not and it's already quite late or me here, but I am assured that it 
would not make a difference. The NF90_SHARE semantics are fine for processes on 
one machine. Without considering multiple machines accessing one file system 
(be it NFS or whatnot), it does not matter if the file is "written to disk"... 
since everyone shares the same filesystem buffers.

> I will have to do some
> research to see whether avoiding fsync() was entirely a portability
> issue for use on non-Unix systems, or whether there was some other
> intention. 

> But for now, I agree that it looks like calling nc_sync()
> ought to also call fsync() on the underlying file descriptor.  If
> nc_sync() did that, there would be no need for a new nc_fsync()
> function.

Having the fiasco of Firefox' madness with its huge databases for trivial stuff 
like bookmarks in mind, we should think before making fsync() default on every 
write, or, rather on every explicit call to nc_sync(). The latter should be 
sane, IMHO, but one might like to be aware of funny effects like 
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=421482 .
But, well, causing disk I/O on a call to a data I/O library feels rather sane 
and is not as unexpected as causing disk I/O on every character typed into a 
URL field, or a click on a hyperlink...

> Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention.

Oh, glad to have helped to get you another issue to worry about;-)


Alrighty then,

Thomas.

-- 
Dipl. Phys. Thomas Orgis
Atmospheric Modelling
Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research



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