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Date:      Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:47:09 +0000
From:      bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org
To:        freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   [Bug 223955] cpio needs a --block-size= option
Message-ID:  <bug-223955-8-3E9z2gefYU@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>
In-Reply-To: <bug-223955-8@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>
References:  <bug-223955-8@https.bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/>

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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D223955

Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg-freebsd@tristatelogic.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |rfg-freebsd@tristatelogic.c
                   |                            |om

--- Comment #4 from Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg-freebsd@tristatelogic.com> ---
Oy vey!  I think that I may perhaps want to withdraw this PR entirely, now =
that
I have some additional (and troubling) data.

After I filed this PR, just for laughs, I tried using that --block-size cpio
option on my Ubuntu system and then tried again to time a multi-gigabyte fi=
le
copy (cpio -p) which I had already times using other methods (e.g. "cp" and
"cpio -without any --block-size=3D option).  I did my test with --block-siz=
e=3D1M.

To my amazement and horror, adding the --block-size=3D1M option didn't real=
ly
make any huge difference.  The bloody file copying was -still- running at l=
east
5x slower than copying of a similar sized file using good old "cp".

Moral of the story:  I guess I'm the only one on the planet who is still ev=
en
trying to use good old cpio.  it appears that all of the work and tuning and
optimizations have gone into cp and/or rsync instead... both of which are f=
ast
snot... while leaving poor old cpio to wallow in the backwaters of virtual
abandonment.

Sigh.  I find this rather a pity, because, given that cpio is MUCH simpler =
than
rsync, in theory it -should- be able to do file copies at least as fast, or
perhaps even a bit faster.  (It doesn't have the added burden of all the
network awareness and all that fancy schmancy differential file comparison
stuff to deal with, unlike rsync.)

But it seems that I'm the only one in the universe who has even noticed, in=
 all
the years of this century so far, that poor old cpio just hasn't been keepi=
ng
up.  Thus, it is silly of me to try to swim against the tide.  I'll just us=
e cp
and rsync from now on and be done with it.

--=20
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