[CentOS] files in a directory limitation

Sat Nov 4 13:21:13 UTC 2006
Jim Perrin <jperrin at gmail.com>

> Does this number vary depending on the architecture used?

Not sure. I've only got x86 boxen to work with and test on for now.
There is no limit (beyond inode limitations) on files on a filesystem
or in a directory. There *is* a limit on directories in a directory.

Sluggishness and other reports aside, this is pretty easy to test.

mkdir ~/tmp  (because doing this in an important dir is probably a bad idea)
for i in {1..63000} ; do mkdir $i ; done

Watch for where the filesystem tells you to go screw yourself. If it
doesn't, then it's probably arch specific, and you can increase the
number and try again. You'll have to remove the tmp dir you created
rather than cleaning it out, as there'll be too many directories and
bash will tell you to go screw yourself if you give it an rmdir *

Once you're dialed in on where it fails, repeat for files and see if
you can push it over. (I've been told by a few people smarter than me
that no such limit exists, nor was I able to bump into  one during my
few minutes of testing.

for i in {1..63000} ; do touch $i ; done




-- 
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell