[Pidgin] #5597: Pidgin calls fsync far too often.

[Pidgin]

#5597: Pidgin calls fsync far too often.
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  Reporter:  neuron     |       Owner:  seanegan     
      Type:  defect     |      Status:  new          
  Priority:  minor      |   Milestone:               
 Component:  libpurple  |     Version:  2.4.1        
Resolution:             |    Keywords:  io fsync ext3
   Pending:  0          |  
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Comment (by neuron):

 Replying to [comment:6 elb]:
 > Replying to [comment:5 neuron]:
 > > I really don't see why you'd need to fsync anything but the buddy
 list, if you have an unclean shutdown you can expect SOME issues, I doubt
 anyone would be too upset about missing 1 entry from a chatlog/missing a
 cached buddylist icon.  And as a general rule, if your using XFS, you
 should have a ups, the people who use XFS should be aware of this already,
 xfs DOES have issues with unclean shutdowns.
 >
 > Well, not just the buddy list, but yes, that's more or less what I was
 suggesting.  User preferences in general should be treated with some care.

 Agreed.

 >
 > > It's not the job of a instant messenger to prevent filesystem
 corruption, especially when it comes with a big performance hit for the
 overall system.
 >
 > Agreed.  However, most people don't seem to see the performance hit that
 you are; keep in mind that most desktop systems are extremely lightly
 loaded and I/O idle.  The current behavior was put in to solve a real
 problem (our responsibility or not).  Now that we are aware that people
 have a problem with the current behavior, we can start looking for ways to
 mitigate it.

 I'm not talking about idle performance, if I do a file transfer while
 talking to people over pidgin, I can see a noticeable performance hit on
 the transfer.

 As you suggested, sync'ing only preferances/buddy lists, and not updating
 that unless it needs updates, would be a very good solution.

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Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/5597#comment:7>
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