Re: [PATCH] Make use of stat.ctime configurable

Linus Torvalds [off-list ref] writes:

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008, David Brown wrote:

quoted

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 08:31:28AM +0200, Alex Riesen wrote:

quoted

because there are situations where it produces too much false
positives. Like when file system crawlers keep changing it when
scanning and using the ctime for marking scanned files.

That's interesting, since most backup software uses the ctime to determine
file changes.

It really is just Beagle that is (was? I can dream) a piece of 
unbelievable crap.

Anybody who uses extended attributes as part of a indexing scheme is just 
insane. Modifying the file you are indexing is not just fundamentally 
wrong to begin with, but it will then also be incredibly inefficient to 
read those entries one at a time.

It's a typo and you are saying it _is_ fundamentally wrong, aren't you?

If you are prepared to pick up new files, you need to crawl everywhere
anyway, so if the xattr is used to leave a mark "The last time I looked at
this file was this" in the file itself, it does not sound too bad to me.
It would be irritating that it touches ctime, though, but I do not use it
so it is not my problem ;-)

http://beagle-project.org/FAQ "Do I really need extended attributes?"
talks about BEAGLE_DISABLE_XATTR environment variable and interestingly
it says disabling use of xattr would slow you down.