linux-kernel - Re: PROBLEM: KB->KiB, MB -> MiB, ... (IEC 60027-2)

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Date:	Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:26:58 +0100 (CET)
From:	Bodo Eggert <7eggert@....de>
To:	Tony Foiani <tkil@...ye.com>
cc:	Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@...ux01.gwdg.de>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>, Eduard Bloch <edi@....de>,
	Bodo Eggert <7eggert@....de>,
	David Schwartz <davids@...master.com>,
	Leon Woestenberg <leon.woestenberg@...il.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: PROBLEM: KB->KiB, MB -> MiB, ... (IEC 60027-2)

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007, Tony Foiani wrote:

> >>>>> "Jan" == Jan Engelhardt <jengelh@...ux01.gwdg.de> writes:
> 
> Jan> For "F"s sake, when you gotta use abbreviations, then just use
> Jan> k=1000 and K=1024 already, b for bits and B for bytes. Problem
> Jan> gone.
> 
>    The one-letter abbreviations are identical to SI prefixes, except
>    for "K", which is used interchangeably with "k" (in SI, "K" stands
>    for the kelvin, and only "k" stands for 1,000).
> 
>    [...]
> 
>    BIPM (which maintains SI) expressly prohibits the binary prefix
>    usage, and recommends the use of the IEC prefixes as an alternative
>    (computing units are not included in SI).
> 
>    Some have suggested that "k" be used for 1,000, and "K" for 1,024,
>    but this cannot be extended to the higher order prefixes and has
>    never been widely recognised.
>    -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix
> 
> So if you continue insisting that "MB" is really 2^20 bytes, you're
> flouting the SI in at least two ways.

The use of SI is not even accepted on bytes.
See <URL:http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf>.

Therefore "MB" is undefined in the SI world, and 2^20 B in the IT world.

>  I'd expect that from an USAian,
> not a German.  ;-> (To be clear, I *am* a USAian, and I really
> desperately wish this country were metric...)

I'd even prefer decimal hours, minutes and seconds.

> Some other gems from that article that haven't been covered in this
> thread:
> 
>  * CD-Rs are generally specified in MiB, but DVD-Rs in GB
>  * CPU clocks are given in decimal

Hz is a supplementary SI unit.
-- 
"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
	-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
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