Re: sendfile from char device?

Jeff Garzik (jgarzik@mandrakesoft.com)
Mon, 19 Feb 2001 08:45:19 -0600 (CST)

On Mon, 19 Feb 2001, Matthew Kirkwood wrote:
> I'm looking for a fast way to initialise a file to zeroes
> (without holes) and reckoned that sendfile from /dev/zero
> would be the way to go.
>
> But, unfortunately, sendfile (in 2.2 and 2.4) appears not
> to support sendfile(2)ing a device:

Correct... sendfile(2) is only for sources/destinations that can be
ripped through the page cache. I converted Lineo's BusyBox to use
sendfile, only to see it die when used on anything but a normal file or
a socket.

Jeff

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