Comment 80 for bug 264019

http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/304791/b4651360c812df4a/?format=printable

Posted Oct 29, 2008 14:29 UTC (Wed) by davem (subscriber, #4154) [Link]
Btw, if you care at all about your data, you will not run
Ubuntu's release that doesn't fix the kernel and instead
turns timestamps off.

If you turn timestamps off, at rates of 1GB/s and above you
are exposed to possible sequence number wraparound. This in
turn can lead to data corruption. Without timestamps there is
no PAWS protection (Protection Against Wrapped Sequence numbers)
and thus at high enough data rates new data can be interpreted
as old data and vice versa, corrupting your data stream.

Ubuntu made the wrong decision, there is simply no argument for
the way this was "handled."

I don't understand why everyone gets their tits in a knot when
even the slightest suggestion of slipping a release is suggested
in order to fix a serious bug like one of this magnitude. It is
always the right thing to do, and it avoids crap like what is
happening here.

To reiterate, if timestamps are off, you are exposed to possible
data corruption.