Package: dpkg
Version: 1.15.6
Severity: normal
With the introduction of fsync() calls to protect data, applications
that do potentially large apt-get install invocations may not want
to incur the penalty of fsync() calls from dpkg.
In the case of building a livecd, this can be the difference between
a 10 minute apt invocation, and 21 minutes.
The use cases where --force-unsafe-io would make sense are those
where apt is modifiying an underlying (possibly empty) base chroot
and the results will be thrown away before the next apt invocation
such that a crash just means "start from the known good base". The
two that jump to mind are:
1. livecd builds
2. buildd chroots where we are using lvm snapshots (or pbuilder or
whatever) and will be discarding the resulting chroot upon either
completion or machine reboot).
Obviously, we want the default to be safe, and the option name to be
scary enough that end users don't think it's a good option to use in
daily life. I spoke with Colin Watson, and he suggested the option
be called --force-unsafe-io.
thanks,
lamont
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
