A different discussion is what we should do or log when we detect this - i.e., write cache enabled and barrier ops not supported (disable write cache? log a scarier message? ignore it?). Today's behavior is probably what most home users want (run as fast as I can, absolute data integrity over power failures not a big deal) but not the right behavior for critical data (i.e., forget performance, make sure my data is always safe ).
Yes, 99.99% of Linux users would really complain like mad if the *kernel* took over the *policy* decision of disabling write-caching. The long-term kernel rule has always been, leave *policy* to user-space. Cheers -- Mark Lord Real-Time Remedies Inc. mlord@xxxxxxxxx - : send the line "unsubscribe linux-ide" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
