linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] sysfs: Optionally count subdirectories to support buggy applications

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Date:	Wed, 1 Feb 2012 15:18:05 -0800
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	"Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>
Cc:	Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
	Jiri Slaby <jslaby@...e.cz>, Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
	Maciej Rutecki <maciej.rutecki@...il.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] sysfs: Optionally count subdirectories to support buggy applications

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 3:15 PM, Linus Torvalds
<torvalds@...ux-foundation.org> wrote:
>
> No extra "keep track of inode counts by hand" crap, and no idiotic
> config options that just make it easy to (conditionally) get things
> wrong. Just do it right, and do it *unconditionally* right.

And btw, "nlink shows number of subdirectories" for a directory entry
really *is* right. It's how Unix filesystems work, like it or not.

It's mainly lazy/bad filesystems that set nlink to 1. So the whole
"nlink==1" case is meant for crap like FAT etc, not for a filesystem
that we control and that could easily just do it right.

Which is why I detest that config option. It's as if you were asking the user

 "Do you want to make the sysfs filesystem act like crap filesystems?"

and kernel config time. What kind of inane question is that?

                    Linus
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