*Quickly* counting the number of files on a partition

[Madison Kelly]

Hi all,

   I am trying to clean up part of the user interface on my backup 
program but I need some advice.

   In short;

   Can I *quickly* get the number of files (and dirs, links, etc) on a 
given partition or under a certain directory? The two keeps are 
"quickly" and "partition"; it's can't traverse file systems /or/ be 
limited to a directory (and it's sub directories).

   The problem;

   I store information on all the files on a given partition in a 
database. Currently I have no way of knowing how many files will be 
scanned when the job begins so I have to print "X number of files 
scanned in Y seconds so far" every so often. Effective but not pretty.

   What I would prefer;

   If I could get the number of files (or even an approximate 'a-la 
pgsql planner) on a given device I could create a traditional progress 
bar but periodically checking how many files have been scanned and 
updating the progress bar. 100% accuracy is not critical, but I would 
like to stay within 90%. :p

   The problem with the time it takes to get the number of files is that 
this is strictly a cosmetic enhancement so I want to keep the 
performance hit as small as possible.

   Thanks!!

Madison

PS - This is a perl program but system calls are okay, too.

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           Madison Kelly (Digimer)
    TLE-BU; The Linux Experience, Back Up
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