On Mon, Dec 05, 2005 at 08:36:32AM +1000, Gerorge Reece-Howe wrote: > Hi, > > I wanted to make an application that would create many thousands of databases > in MySQL. > > I was wondering if there was a limit to the number of directories a single > directory could hold? I assume the number of directories would be the limit > (if any) to the number of databases MySQL could handle. > > Would there be any adverse effects of doing this (with regard to either the > system or the database)? > > Is this the right place to be asking this kind of question? >
One of the earliest design decisions in UNIX was the way a file hierarchy was to be implemented. In UNIX, a directory is "just" another file. But, it is marked for special handling by the OS. As such, the limit on the number of entries in a directory is derived from the maximum size of a file. The maximum size of a file is ~2GB on 32bit systems and much larger on 64bit systems. I think that this limit will not ever be a practical limitation. Other problems will become important long before this limit is reached. HTH -- Paul E Condon [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
