On 1.5.1 (both i386 and sparc), while running newfs, other IO on the
system is ridiculously slow, to the point where `pwd' waited until
newfs had finished (several minutes later) before it returned
anything.

Even under heavy disk usage, this is not normally the case, only
during newfs.

Is there a reason for this strange behavior, and is it fixed in
-current?

Having other IO come to a grinding halt while running newfs is not
exactly desired :-)

g.