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On Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:11:35 +0100 |
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Florian Philipp <lists@×××××××××××.net> wrote: |
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|
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> Hi list! |
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> |
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> I have a use case where I am seriously concerned about bit rot [1] |
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> and I thought it might be a good idea to start looking for it in my |
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> own private stuff, too. |
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> |
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> Solving the problem is easy enough: |
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> - Record checksums and timestamps for each file |
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> - Check and update records via cronjob |
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> - If checksum changed but timestamp didn't, notify user |
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> - Let user restore from backup |
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> |
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> However, I haven't found any application in portage for this task. |
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> Now, the implementation is easy enough but I'm wondering why it |
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> hasn't been done. Or do I just look for the wrong thing? The only |
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> suitable thing seems to be app-admin/tripwire but that application |
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> also looks like overkill. |
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> |
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> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rot |
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> |
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> Regards, |
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> Florian Philipp |
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> |
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|
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You are using a very peculiar definition of bitrot. |
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|
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"bits" do not "rot", they are not apples in a barrel. Bitrot usually |
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refers to code that goes unmaintained and no longer works in the system |
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it was installed. What definition are you using? |
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|
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If you mean crummy code that goes unmaintained, then keep systems up to |
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date and report bugs. |
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|
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If you mean disk file corruption, then doing it file by file is a |
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colossal waste of time IMNSHO. You likely have >1,000,000 files. Are |
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you really going to md5sum each one daily? Really? |
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|
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This is a filesystem task, not a cronjab task. Use a filesystem that |
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does proper checksumming. ZFS does it, but that is of course somewhat |
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problematic on Linux. Check out the others, it will be something modern |
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you need, like ext4 maybe or btrfs |
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|
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-- |
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Alan McKinnon |
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alan.mckinnon@×××××.com |