.TH writebuffer 1 2001-10-21 chiark-backup
.SH NAME
writebuffer \- write output to devices which don't like constant stopping and starting
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B writebuffer
.RB [ --mlock ]
.RI [ size ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B writebuffer
reads data on standard input and writes it to standard output.  It
will buffer internally up to \fIsize\fR megabytes and will only write
data when the buffer is at least 75% full or when there is no more
input to fill the buffer.
.PP
\fIsize\fR may also be suffixed with
.BR m ", " k ", or " b
to indicate that it is in megabytes (2^20), kilobytes (2^10) or bytes.
.PP
It is intended for use in situations where many small writes are
undesirable for performance reasons, e.g. tape drives.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B --mlock
Calls
.BR mlock (2)
to lock the buffer into memory.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR readbuffer (1),
.BR mlock (2)