granularity - A file timestamp granularity experiment

This looks at how often timestamps for files created close together cluster into equal values in a /tmp-like directory. The granularity of the filesystem timestamps contributes to this.

The effects vary across systems. In practice, on macOS, all the timestamps are nearly always distinct, while on Windows and GNU/Linux that is not usually the case. Whether that is really what happens will depend in part on what kind of device and filesystem /tmp (or an analogous directory on Windows) is located on.

Contents

The code is in src/main.rs. Results are in:

• output-ubuntu.txt for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (GNU/Linux)
• output-windows.txt for Windows 10 22H2
• no current output-macos.txt for macOS 15.3.2, but it is forthcoming

History and acknowledgements

This was orignally made while investigating GitoxideLabs/gitoxide#1896.

The change of including acquision and release of the temporary directory (the latter of which deletes the directory and the files created inside of it) in the per-experiment timings is motivated by the insight of @Byron expressed in GitoxideLabs/gitoxide#1899 (comment).

License

0BSD