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Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 16:03:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>
To: Alexander Viro <viro@math.psu.edu>
cc: <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [Ext2-devel] disk throughput
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On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> A five-time slowdown on real work _is_ pure hell. You've not shown a
> credible argument that the slow-growth behaviour would ever result in a
> five-time slowdown for _anything_.

There might also be heuristics that explicitly _notice_ slow growth, not
necessarily as a function of time, but as a function of the tree structure
itself.

For example, spreading out (and the inherent assumption of "slow growth")
might make sense for the root directory, and possibly for a level below
that. It almost certainly does _not_ make sense for a directory created
four levels down.

		Linus