From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Tue, 11 Sep 2001 01:30:24 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Tue, 11 Sep 2001 01:30:13 -0400 Received: from wire.cadcamlab.org ([156.26.20.181]:21511 "EHLO wire.cadcamlab.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Tue, 11 Sep 2001 01:29:55 -0400 Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 00:29:57 -0500 To: kaih@khms.westfalen.de, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: linux-2.4.10-pre5 Message-ID: <20010911002956.D582@cadcamlab.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <88a0nPmXw-B@khms.westfalen.de> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.20i From: Peter Samuelson Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org > I see two possible atime uses: > > 1. Cleaning up /tmp (mtime is *not* a good indicator that a file is no > longer used) > 2. Swapping out files to slower storage > > Essentially, both use the "do we still need this thing" aspect. The Debian 'popularity-contest' package has an interesting use for atime. It runs weekly (if you install it, of course -- nobody *has* to do this!) and determines when each of your installed packages was last referenced -- then mails this anonymously to a drop box somewhere. The Higher Purpose here is to determine what the "most useful" Debian packages are. These go on the first volume of the Debian CD set, to make a one-volume Debian CD as useful as possible. The Windows 2000 install subsystem seems to collect similar data. Heaven only knows whether *that* data ever makes it back to its owners.... Peter