[oclug] du filtering

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Sun, Nov 16, 2003 at 11:55:02AM -0500, Robert Echlin wrote:
> There were some difference in the file systems of the machines.
> The "." and ".." entries were occasionally different.

Yes.  ext2/ext3 don't compress directories.  So you can easily get
fragmented directories that will shrink when you copy them.  Here..

mkdir foo
cd foo
touch `seq 1000 9999`
rm `seq 1001 9998`
cd ..
ls -ld foo

There, a nice 110k dirctory that will shrink to 4k if you copy its
contents to somewhere else.

-- 
"It's not Hollywood.  War is real, war is primarily not about defeat or
victory, it is about death.  I've seen thousands and thousands of dead bodies.
Do you think I want to have an academic debate on this subject?" -- Robert Fisk