Disabling atime

[Les Mikesell]

Rahul Sundaram wrote:

>>> I'd expect the RedHat-style approach to this to be: add some file
>>> under /etc/sysconfig like mount-options that contains options that can
>>> be merged with the ones in /etc/fstab and all of the magic
>>> automounting bits (this is probably as important on usb flash drives
>>> as anywhere).
>>>
>>> [snip]
>>>
>> There is something which leap out at me as soon a I saw this: the kind
>> of person who _needs_ atime, knows how to set it. The majority of people
>> - especially the home use - has little or no use for it whatsoever.
> 
> The majority of people will see a performance boost they will appreciate 
> regardless of whether they know about atime or not.

But whether it is a noticeable difference or not will depend on the 
number of files they access, either with automated build procedures or 
GUI file managers that like to peek inside every file.  People who keep 
their directory trees sparse and don't venture out of their home 
directory in a GUI much will probably not know the difference except 
that tmpwatch may not clean up correctly and their mailer may have to do 
more work to decide if a message is unread (etc.).

--
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com