cvs commit: src/lib/libc/sys msync.2

[Alan Cox]

On Sat, Sep 04, 2004 at 09:30:43PM -0400, David Schultz wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 03, 2004, Peter Pentchev wrote:
> > roam        2004-09-03 06:24:25 UTC
> > 
> >   FreeBSD src repository (doc,ports committer)
> > 
> >   Modified files:
> >     lib/libc/sys         msync.2 
> >   Log:
> >   Add a BUGS section and copy the wording from mmap(2)'s MAP_NOSYNC,
> >   documenting the obsoleteness of the msync(2) syscall and its single
> >   remaining purpose.
> 
> I'm not nitpicking at you since you didn't write the original
> text, but if msync(2) still has a purpose, then it isn't really
> obsolete, is it?  (Moreover, the text only describes the purpose of
> msync(2) with the MS_ASYNC flag.)  Applications such as databases
> that want greater control over the flushing of dirty data may
> still find msync(2) very useful.

I agree.  This sentence should be removed from both msync.2 and mmap.2
for precisely the reason you state.

It is, however, worth mentioning that FreeBSD has a unified buffer and
virtual memory page cache in these man pages.  In fact, that does make
most uses of msync()'s MS_INVALIDATE flag unnecessary.  (The useful cases
being things like the extension used by the Nvidia driver.)

On a related note, where do we stand with respect to the use of X/Open
man pages?  The X/Open man page for msync(2) is much better than ours.

Alan