Use strict matching for --section command line option

[fio.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 940839c3892a354da5332b1234dca4d914e1b473..7a49dda519b170bdd3c6ed881a96f482ac8c52c9 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -40,22 +40,44 @@ Mailing list
 ------------
 
 There's a mailing list associated with fio. It's meant for general
 ------------
 
 There's a mailing list associated with fio. It's meant for general

-discussion, bug reporting, questions - basically anything that has to
-do with fio. An automated mail detailing recent commits is automatically
-sent to the list at most daily. The list address is fio-devel@kernel.dk,
-subscribe by sending an empty email to fio-devel+subscribe@kernel.dk.
+discussion, bug reporting, questions, and development - basically anything
+that has to do with fio. An automated mail detailing recent commits is
+automatically sent to the list at most daily. The list address is
+fio@vger.kernel.org, subscribe by sending an email to
+majordomo@vger.kernel.org with
+
+subscribe fio
+
+in the body of the email. There is no archive for the new list yet,
+archives for the old list can be found here:
+
+http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/

 
 
 Building
 --------
 
 Just type 'make' and 'make install'. If on FreeBSD, for now you have to
 
 
 Building
 --------
 
 Just type 'make' and 'make install'. If on FreeBSD, for now you have to

-specify the FreeBSD Makefile with -f, eg:
+specify the FreeBSD Makefile with -f and use gmake (not make), eg:

 
 

-$ make -f Makefile.Freebsd && make -f Makefile.FreeBSD install
+$ gmake -f Makefile.Freebsd && gmake -f Makefile.FreeBSD install

 
 Likewise with OpenSolaris, use the Makefile.solaris to compile there.
 
 Likewise with OpenSolaris, use the Makefile.solaris to compile there.

-This might change in the future if I opt for an autoconf type setup.
+The OpenSolaris make should work fine. This might change in the
+future if I opt for an autoconf type setup.
+
+If your compile fails with an error like this:
+
+    CC gettime.o
+In file included from fio.h:23,
+                 from gettime.c:8:
+os/os.h:15:20: error: libaio.h: No such file or directory
+In file included from gettime.c:8:
+fio.h:119: error: field 'iocb' has incomplete type
+make: *** [gettime.o] Error 1
+
+Check that you have the libaio development package installed. On RPM
+based distros, it's typically called libaio-devel.

 
 
 Command line
 
 
 Command line


@@ -64,7 +86,7 @@ Command line
 $ fio
         --debug         Enable some debugging options (see below)
         --output        Write output to file
 $ fio
         --debug         Enable some debugging options (see below)
         --output        Write output to file

-        --runtime       Runtime in seconds
+        --timeout       Runtime in seconds

         --latency-log   Generate per-job latency logs
         --bandwidth-log Generate per-job bandwidth logs
         --minimal       Minimal (terse) output
         --latency-log   Generate per-job latency logs
         --bandwidth-log Generate per-job bandwidth logs
         --minimal       Minimal (terse) output


@@ -72,9 +94,11 @@ $ fio
        --help          Print this page
        --cmdhelp=cmd   Print command help, "all" for all of them
        --showcmd       Turn a job file into command line options
        --help          Print this page
        --cmdhelp=cmd   Print command help, "all" for all of them
        --showcmd       Turn a job file into command line options

-       --readonly      Turn on safety read-only checks
+       --readonly      Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing writes

        --eta=when      When ETA estimate should be printed
                        May be "always", "never" or "auto"
        --eta=when      When ETA estimate should be printed
                        May be "always", "never" or "auto"

+       --section=name  Only run specified section in job file
+       --alloc-size=kb Set smalloc pool to this size in kb (def 1024)

 
 
 Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files,
 
 
 Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files,


@@ -98,11 +122,29 @@ options in fio. Currently the options are:
        blktrace        Dump info related to blktrace setup
        verify          Dump info related to IO verification
        all             Enable all debug options
        blktrace        Dump info related to blktrace setup
        verify          Dump info related to IO verification
        all             Enable all debug options

+       random          Dump info related to random offset generation
+       parse           Dump info related to option matching and parsing
+       diskutil        Dump info related to disk utilization updates
+       job:x           Dump info only related to job number x
+       mutex           Dump info only related to mutex up/down ops

        ? or help       Show available debug options.
 
 You can specify as many as you want, eg --debug=file,mem will enable
 file and memory debugging.
 
        ? or help       Show available debug options.
 
 You can specify as many as you want, eg --debug=file,mem will enable
 file and memory debugging.
 

+The section switch is meant to make it easier to ship a bigger job file
+instead of several smaller ones. Say you define a job file with light,
+moderate, and heavy parts. Then you can ask fio to run the given part
+only by giving it a --section=heavy command line option. The section
+option only applies to job sections, the reserved 'global' section is
+always parsed and taken into account.
+
+Fio has an internal allocator for shared memory called smalloc. It
+allocates shared structures from this pool. The pool defaults to 1024k
+in size, and can grow to 32 pools. If running large jobs with randommap
+enabled it can run out of memory, in which case the --alloc-size switch
+is handy for starting with a larger pool size.
+

 
 Job file
 --------
 
 Job file
 --------


@@ -135,12 +177,13 @@ The job file parameters are:
                        across runs, if 'x' is 1.
        size=x          Set file size to x bytes (x string can include k/m/g)
        ioengine=x      'x' may be: aio/libaio/linuxaio for Linux aio,
                        across runs, if 'x' is 1.
        size=x          Set file size to x bytes (x string can include k/m/g)
        ioengine=x      'x' may be: aio/libaio/linuxaio for Linux aio,

-                       posixaio for POSIX aio, sync for regular read/write io,
+                       posixaio for POSIX aio, solarisaio for Solaris
+                       native async IO, sync for regular read/write io,

                        psync for regular pread/pwrite io, vsync for regular
                        readv/writev (with queuing emulation) mmap for mmap'ed
                        io, syslet-rw for syslet driven read/write, splice for
                        psync for regular pread/pwrite io, vsync for regular
                        readv/writev (with queuing emulation) mmap for mmap'ed
                        io, syslet-rw for syslet driven read/write, splice for

-                       using splice/vmsplice, sgio for direct SG_IO io, net
-                       for network io, or cpuio for a cycler burner load. sgio
+                       using splice/vmsplice, sg for direct SG_IO io, net
+                       for network io, or cpuio for a cycler burner load. sg

                        only works on Linux on SCSI (or SCSI-like devices, such
                        as usb-storage or sata/libata driven) devices. Fio also
                        has a null io engine, which is mainly used for testing
                        only works on Linux on SCSI (or SCSI-like devices, such
                        as usb-storage or sata/libata driven) devices. Fio also
                        has a null io engine, which is mainly used for testing


@@ -184,6 +227,7 @@ The job file parameters are:
        verify=x        If 'x' == md5, use md5 for verifies. If 'x' == crc32,
                        use crc32 for verifies. md5 is 'safer', but crc32 is
                        a lot faster. Only makes sense for writing to a file.
        verify=x        If 'x' == md5, use md5 for verifies. If 'x' == crc32,
                        use crc32 for verifies. md5 is 'safer', but crc32 is
                        a lot faster. Only makes sense for writing to a file.

+                       For other types of checksumming, see HOWTO.

        stonewall       Wait for preceeding jobs to end before running.
        numjobs=x       Create 'x' similar entries for this job
        thread          Use pthreads instead of forked jobs
        stonewall       Wait for preceeding jobs to end before running.
        numjobs=x       Create 'x' similar entries for this job
        thread          Use pthreads instead of forked jobs


@@ -215,6 +259,33 @@ The job file parameters are:
        cpuchunks=x     Split burn cycles into pieces of x usecs.
 
 
        cpuchunks=x     Split burn cycles into pieces of x usecs.
 
 

+
+Platforms
+---------
+
+Fio works on (at least) Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD. Some features and/or
+options may only be available on some of the platforms, typically because
+those features only apply to that platform (like the solarisaio engine, or
+the splice engine on Linux).
+
+Some features are not available on FreeBSD/Solaris even if they could be
+implemented, I'd be happy to take patches for that. An example of that is
+disk utility statistics and (I think) huge page support, support for that
+does exist in FreeBSD/Solaris.
+
+Fio uses pthread mutexes for signalling and locking and FreeBSD does not
+support process shared pthread mutexes. As a result, only threads are
+supported on FreeBSD. This could be fixed with sysv ipc locking or
+other locking alternatives.
+
+Other *BSD platforms are untested, but fio should work there almost out
+of the box. Since I don't do test runs or even compiles on those platforms,
+your mileage may vary. Sending me patches for other platforms is greatly
+appreciated. There's a lot of value in having the same test/benchmark tool
+available on all platforms.
+
+
+

 Author
 ------
 
 Author
 ------