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List:       coreutils
Subject:    Re: Need help for translation.
From:       Bernhard Voelker <mail () bernhard-voelker ! de>
Date:       2014-07-15 13:05:02
Message-ID: 53C526FE.8090905 () bernhard-voelker ! de
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On 07/15/2014 02:46 PM, Philipp Thomas wrote:
> the message catalog for 8.23pre1 has 'whiteout' from lib/file-type.c. Can anyone
> please explain me what that means in that context? It's the only
> untranslated text left :)

It's a "BSD whiteout" file:

 From http://fixunix.com/bsd/86985-whiteout.html#post284618:

   A 'whiteout' file is an *ARTIFICIAL* entry in any of several types of
   'translucent' filesystems, of which a 'union' filesystem is one.

   The need arises when you have one filesystem mounted 'over' another
   with the files in the underlying system _visible_ through the overlaying
   system.

   Any _changes_ to files are made in the overlaying filesystem -- the underlying
   files are *NOT* changed in any way.

   Given that, when you _delete_ a file, a 'special' entry is required in
   the overlaying system to indicate that the underlying file should no longer
   be visible. This is what 'whiteout' does -- it paints over the real entry
   so that you cannot see what "was" there.

   Thus, to answer your question of "how would one go about creating a whiteout
   file" -- you simply _delete_ a file that exists in the underlying filesystem.

   Note: you cannot open(), read(), write(), seek(), stat(), or perform _any_
   other 'file operation' on a whiteout file -- any such attempt returns an
   'ENOENT' error.

   You cannot even 'unlink()' a whiteout file. The only way to remove a
   whiteout entry is to *create* a file by the same name.

   It is a specialized 'bookkeeping entry' for a file that "does not exist".

Well, I wouldn't translate it, or if I did, I'd try to find a
word for something like "overlay deletion placeholder".

Have a nice day,
Berny


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