Re: [PATCH] allow disabling fsync everywhere

On 2021-10-28 at 18:28:24, Eric Wong wrote:

Third-party tools and OSes which don't have a tmpfs mounted by
default (I don't think most *BSDs have tmpfs enabled by
default).

I try to use libeatmydata everywhere I can; but that's not
always installed.

I was going to suggest libeatmydata for this purpose.  I don't think we
should grow this option when there's a library that does all of this for
us without any mistakes and also is universally applicable.  Presumably
if you find Git too slow in this case, you'll also find dpkg and other
programs too slow, and want to use it there as well.

It's also potentially a footgun where people end up "making Git faster"
and then get corrupted data.  I'm imagining blog posts and Stack
Overflow suggestions that people do this, just like we see tons of
suggestions for people to set http.postBuffer without understanding what
it does.  I think "eat my data" is pretty clear about the consequences
so we don't have to be, and it comes with a giant warning that you're
almost certainly going to experience data loss.
-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA