Appeal for BtrFS Inclusion in Kernel
Chris Mason, lead developer of the copy-on-write BtrFS filesystem, has appealed for its inclusion in the Linux kernel.
In his linux-kernel mail, Chris Mason attests to the current working condition of the BtrFS filesystem and found it stable enough for a larger test environment, basing it on the significant changes he made in early December. Mason, who works on BtrFS at Oracle, hopes that other developers will quickly set themselves to task with the new filesystem.
Reactions to Mason's appeal were the usual mix of supportive and skeptical. The current kernel maintainer Andrew Morton immediately replied with "What's btrfs? I think I've heard the name before, but I've never seen the patches." In response, Mason promised a subsequent kernel patch and, in the meantime, referred to code in the git repository.
Criticism rained down as usual from developers who wanted as much common-usage code as possible in separate libraries. Some linux-kernel responders suggested tagging the filesystem with the btrfs-dev designation, analogous to the development version of ext4. Mason considers this step irrelevant in that BtrFS, as a totally new filesystem, has an inherent development status and no one would think of using it as a standard filesystem at this point.
The discussion as to its inclusion in the kernel is still ongoing, and then as to which BtrFS version and in which official Kernel release.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
great post
http://www.cocoschanel.com
http://www.gucciguccis.com
http://www.urboots.com
http://www.handbags2012.com
http://www.louisvuittonslv.com
http://www.uggmalls.com
Ohh please
1)It will take distros 6 to 1 year to get this kernel in their releases. Sure maybe Open Suse or Fedora might in 2-3 months.
2)The Linux distros won't be enabling when they compile their kernel it unless they have tested it, and can support it.
3)The Linux distros won't be including userspace utils to create the file system.
Given the above a user would need to go out and get a bleeding edge kernel. Then compile in the support when they build it. Then download the utils to make the filesystem. If you are doing all that you better know what you are doing or you'll have issues.
Ext4 is a different story as you can convert ext3 to ext4 filesystem simply by mounting an ext3. Now you have ext4 filesystem which if anything goes wrong your filesystem repair tools most likely aren't new enough for. Also you'll need to know how to convert back....
A bit overblown
If you actually read the thread above, you'd see he is responsive for the real issues but a bit resistant on some changes that he thinks are arbitrary, but what person isn't? The btrfsdev issue is an example of this. In ( http://marc.info/?l=linux-f...&m=123127096228480&w=2 ) he wrote:
"Should it be named btrfsdev? My vote is no, it is extra work for the distros when we finally do rename it, and I don't think btrfs really has the reputation for stability right now. But if Linus or Andrew would prefer the dev on there, I'll do it."
Sound's reasonable to me, and I expect it'll happen because anyone testing btrfs now will likely be testing it with throw-away data, so there wouldn't be any need to rename it. Once btrfs is out, the btrfsdev module could safely disappear and the new btrfs (production version) module will exist.
dev designation
I mean, sorry, but this isnt a developer mindset, this is a deliberately confusing the issue to create bug reports issue, it's so blatently obvious and transparent.
people might actually lose something important, then you could be losing money and they'll just stick their hands up and say, oh well, sorry, you know there isnt a warranty, right???
Implicitly in development
I'm not talking about home users: this is the same kernel that RedHat will use in mission critical systems.
If it's only *implicitly* in development, then it's not *obviously* in development. Mark it "-dev", and when it's production-ready, take away the "-dev" designation. In fact, keep the "-dev" designation for the next version implicitly in development. Simple, really.