A "softupdates" problem?

[Konrad Heuer]

On Thu, 3 Jul 2003, Mark wrote:

> Making a daily server backup, using dump (FreeBSD 4.7R), I keep running into
> a "softupdates" problem. That is, prior to backing up a partition (/var), I
> move a large file (several gigabytes) off that partition. But because of the
> "softupdates" effect, the size of that large file is added to the dump-file
> size, as if it were still on the partition!
>
> I have been able to circumvent that, in the past, by waiting a few minutes
> before starting the dump (until df reflects the correct size). This is not
> really ideal, though, as I disallow outside connections while in backup (so
> as not to change the /var partion with log-files being filled and such). Is
> there not a command to force 'softupdates' to write out its cache
> immediately?

I didn't try, but `sync' should do the job, shouldn't it?

Regards

Konrad Heuer (kheuer2 at gwdg.de)  ____            ___  _______
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