GNU bug report logs - #32073
Improvements in Grep

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Message #37 received at 32073 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Sergiu Hlihor <sh <at> discovergy.com>
Cc: 32073 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Dennis Clarke <dclarke <at> blastwave.org>,
 Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
Subject: Re: Improvements in Grep (Bug#32073)
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2020 11:42:53 -0800

On 1/1/20 1:15 AM, Sergiu Hlihor wrote:
> If you rely on OS, then
> you are at the mercy of whatever read ahead configuration you have.

Right, and whatever changes you make to the OS and its read-ahead configuration
will work for all applications, not just for 'grep'. So, change the OS to do
that. There shouldn't be a need to change 'grep' in particular (or 'cp' in
particular, or 'awk' in particular, etc.).

> The issue of large
> block sizes for IO operations is widespread across all tools from Linux,
> like rsync or cp and its only getting worse

Quite right. And it would be painful to have to modify all those tools, and to
maintain those modifications. So modify the OS instead. Scheduling read-ahead is
really the OS's job anyway.

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