libeatmydata is an LD_PRELOAD library that transparently disables fsync and related system calls, significantly speeding up disk writes at the cost of crash safety. The tool is intended for use cases where performance matters more than data integrity, such as testing or temporary data. It's available on GitHub and packaged by many Linux distributions.
Background
fsync is a system call that ensures data is written to disk, crucial for data integrity but can be a performance bottleneck. Tools like libeatmydata allow developers to bypass these safeguards for specific use cases.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Mar 29, 2026 at 12:49 PM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10