This software enables the tar program to simultaneously write multiple files, increasing efficiency and saving time.
On a 4 processor Sun machine, I was able to measure a significant increase in speed when using MT-write, with a 1GB tar file on a tmpfs resulting in a speedup of over 60 percent. MT-write works by intercepting the executable's calls to write and other related functions and then handing them off to worker threads. As a result, the executable is unaware of any issues that may arise during this process.
In the event that an error does occur, MT-write will write an error message to the standard error output of the executable. The benefits of using MT-write depend largely on the specific system being used. For example, on Solaris' tmpfs on a 4 processor machine, I observed a speedup of over 60 percent. However, ufs performance on the same machine did not show any difference.
Using MT-write is simple, as mtwrite.so is a preloadable shared object designed to be preloaded to the tar executable. To use it, simply execute: $ env LD_PRELOAD=mtwrite.so tar xf mytarfile.tar.
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