Mail Archives: cygwin/2003/06/05/12:42:24
On Thu, Jun 05, 2003 at 05:25:18PM +0100, Max Bowsher wrote:
> I threw together a horrible C program to ask Windows whether a file was
> sparse. .exe and .dll files made with a 1.5.0 Cygwin are. I haven't posted
> the test program, because it is too messy.
> [...]
> I give proof that dll/exe files are being created sparse above.
Uhm...
> Do you mean proof that sparseness of .exe files is harmful?
> Data has already been posted by me and others showing that sparse files
> consume excess disc space.
It does if it's used for files smaller than 128K. That's probably
an argument to sparsify a file only if the lseek hole is >= 128K
but it's not an argument against sparse files at all. I'm perfectly
happy with changing this from 64K to 128K, ok?
> a sparse file - I have no test data, but since sparseness gains me nothing,
> and might lose me something, I dont like it._
That's a good argument. I'm speechless.
> So, the point is, for the majority of users, sparseness gains nothing, and
> can have undesirable effects.
> Therefore, I really think it should be off by default.
We're now on the path of opinion. My opinion is to drop 9x/Me
support entirely from Cygwin since it just requires ugly hacks
in the code. But that's not actually an argument to do it in
reality.
Corinna
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Corinna Vinschen Please, send mails regarding Cygwin to
Cygwin Developer mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
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