A far superior interface would be:
ssize_t sys_clear(unsigned int fd, size_t count)
A stub implementation would just write zeroes. You would need a generic way
of determining whether holes are supported for a particular file - this is
where an fcntl would be appropriate. It would also be nice to know this
before opening/creating a file, perhaps by fcntling the directory.
But don't expect to have a real, hole-creating implementation any time soon.
Taming the truncate races is hard enough as it is with a single boundary at
the end of a file. Taking care of multiple boundaries inside the file is
far, far harder. Talk to Al Viro or the Ext3 team if you want the whole ugly
story.
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