max reasonable # of file in dir

[Olaf Titz]

> under linux 2.2.14-17 what is the maximum reasonable number of files in a
> directory (before it start slowing down)? What about under 2.4?

I have no hard numbers but my past experience with old INN says that
10,000 is definitely too much (I remember open() calls which took a
second or so on PII and good SCSI hardware). This holds for ext2 and
any other "traditional" Un*x filesystem where creat() is O(n) in the
number of entries in that directory.

Corollary: avoid traditional spool if ever possible. 2.2 or 2.4 should
make no big difference, the limiting factor is in the filesystem layout.

Olaf