Add file:advise/4 - a wrapper to the POSIX syscall posix_fadvise

Useful for informing the Operating System about the access pattern
for a file's data, so that it can adapt the caching strategy to
maximize disk IO performance.

3 files changed, 55 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/lib/kernel/src/file.erl b/lib/kernel/src/file.erl
index 5da359fdf1..a694ed0708 100644
--- a/lib/kernel/src/file.erl
+++ b/lib/kernel/src/file.erl
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 %% Specialized
 -export([ipread_s32bu_p32bu/3]).
 %% Generic file contents.
--export([open/2, close/1, 
+-export([open/2, close/1, advise/4,
 	 read/2, write/2, 
 	 pread/2, pread/3, pwrite/2, pwrite/3,
 	 read_line/1,
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@
 -type date()      :: {pos_integer(), pos_integer(), pos_integer()}.
 -type time()      :: {non_neg_integer(), non_neg_integer(), non_neg_integer()}.
 -type date_time() :: {date(), time()}.
+-type posix_file_advise() :: 'normal' | 'sequential' | 'random' | 'no_reuse' |
+                            'will_need' | 'dont_need'.
 
 %%%-----------------------------------------------------------------
 %%% General functions
@@ -352,6 +354,18 @@ close(#file_descriptor{module = Module} = Handle) ->
 close(_) ->
     {error, badarg}.
 
+-spec advise(File :: io_device(), Offset :: integer(),
+        Length :: integer(), Advise :: posix_file_advise()) ->
+	'ok' | {'error', posix()}.
+
+advise(File, Offset, Length, Advise) when is_pid(File) ->
+    R = file_request(File, {advise, Offset, Length, Advise}),
+    wait_file_reply(File, R);
+advise(#file_descriptor{module = Module} = Handle, Offset, Length, Advise) ->
+    Module:advise(Handle, Offset, Length, Advise);
+advise(_, _, _, _) ->
+    {error, badarg}.
+
 -spec read(File :: io_device(), Size :: non_neg_integer()) ->
 	'eof' | {'ok', [char()] | binary()} | {'error', posix()}.
 
diff --git a/lib/kernel/src/file_io_server.erl b/lib/kernel/src/file_io_server.erl
index d0b30192b3..39dc32bb79 100644
--- a/lib/kernel/src/file_io_server.erl
+++ b/lib/kernel/src/file_io_server.erl
@@ -198,6 +198,14 @@ io_reply(From, ReplyAs, Reply) ->
 %%%-----------------------------------------------------------------
 %%% file requests
 
+file_request({advise,Offset,Length,Advise},
+         #state{handle=Handle}=State) ->
+    case ?PRIM_FILE:advise(Handle, Offset, Length, Advise) of
+    {error,_}=Reply ->
+        {stop,normal,Reply,State};
+    Reply ->
+        {reply,Reply,State}
+    end;
 file_request({pread,At,Sz}, 
 	     #state{handle=Handle,buf=Buf,read_mode=ReadMode}=State) ->
     case position(Handle, At, Buf) of
diff --git a/lib/kernel/src/ram_file.erl b/lib/kernel/src/ram_file.erl
index 0230cb4e0a..2bfb2cd021 100644
--- a/lib/kernel/src/ram_file.erl
+++ b/lib/kernel/src/ram_file.erl
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 %% Specialized file operations
 -export([get_size/1, get_file/1, set_file/2, get_file_close/1]).
--export([compress/1, uncompress/1, uuencode/1, uudecode/1]).
+-export([compress/1, uncompress/1, uuencode/1, uudecode/1, advise/4]).
 
 -export([open_mode/1]).  %% used by ftp-file
 
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 -define(RAM_FILE_UUENCODE,       35).
 -define(RAM_FILE_UUDECODE,       36).
 -define(RAM_FILE_SIZE,           37).
+-define(RAM_FILE_ADVISE,         38).
 
 %% Open modes for RAM_FILE_OPEN
 -define(RAM_FILE_MODE_READ,       1).
@@ -91,6 +92,14 @@
 -define(RAM_FILE_RESP_NUMBER,     3).
 -define(RAM_FILE_RESP_INFO,       4).
 
+%% POSIX file advises
+-define(POSIX_FADV_NORMAL,     0).
+-define(POSIX_FADV_RANDOM,     1).
+-define(POSIX_FADV_SEQUENTIAL, 2).
+-define(POSIX_FADV_WILLNEED,   3).
+-define(POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED,   4).
+-define(POSIX_FADV_NOREUSE,    5).
+
 %% --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 %% Generic file contents operations.
 %%
@@ -352,6 +361,28 @@ uudecode(#file_descriptor{module = ?MODULE, data = Port}) ->
 uudecode(#file_descriptor{}) ->
     {error, enotsup}.
 
+advise(#file_descriptor{module = ?MODULE, data = Port}, Offset,
+        Length, Advise) ->
+    Cmd0 = <<?RAM_FILE_ADVISE, Offset:64/signed, Length:64/signed>>,
+    case Advise of
+    normal ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_NORMAL:32/signed>>);
+    random ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_RANDOM:32/signed>>);
+    sequential ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_SEQUENTIAL:32/signed>>);
+    will_need ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_WILLNEED:32/signed>>);
+    dont_need ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED:32/signed>>);
+    no_reuse ->
+        call_port(Port, <<Cmd0/binary, ?POSIX_FADV_NOREUSE:32/signed>>);
+    _ ->
+        {error, einval}
+    end;
+advise(#file_descriptor{}, _Offset, _Length, _Advise) ->
+    {error, enotsup}.
+
 
 
 %%%-----------------------------------------------------------------