Weeder

Abstract

We have seen that the Vesta evaluation machinery handles the creation and naming of derived files automatically, without user involvement. Vesta also handles the deletion of derived files largely automatically. This is the province of the weeder, whose function was briefly examined in Sections 3.1.3 and 8.6. Because derived files and function cache entries are closely related, the weeder also manages the deletion of unwanted cache entries, under the guidance of a system administrator. In this chapter, we look at the operation of the weeder in more detail, considering its design and implementation. Performance measurements appear in Section 11.5.