On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, dean gaudet wrote:
inodes only use kernel memory when the file is accessed. in this respect there is no difference in the memory usage between reiserfs or ext3 or any other filesystem. think about the case of network filesystems for example. i think we're agreeing aren't we?
On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Dan Hollis wrote: the only reason i care about kernel memory usage is that once you start scaling to 1000s of simultaneous users kernel memory starts becoming scarce... with maildir it happens a lot faster than with mailbox.
Not really. I dont think the kernel memory used by open inodes is anywhere close to a concern compared to the other kernel resources that processes use. So I would suggest that it doesnt happen a lot faster with maildir than it does with mailbox. With 1000s of simultaneous users, the kernel resources used by open inodes would be the least of your worries and would be lost in the background noise anyway.
-Dan