Linux kernel edges closer to dropping ReiserFS
- Reference: 1645725629
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/24/linux_kernel_takes_a_step/
- Source link:
This isn't due to a problem or bug in ReiserFS: it still works fine and has plenty of features. The problem was that ReiserFS code in the kernel used some API calls that nothing else did, preventing them from being changed or enhanced. For now, one of the other ReiserFS developers has [2]contributed a patch that removes the issue.
ReiserFS has been stuck on version 3 for some fifteen years, and although there are proposals for [3]Reiser4 and even [4]Reiser5 , development is not moving forward because its chief architect is still in prison [5]for murdering his wife.
[6]
Partly due to this lack of advancement, ReiserFS is no longer widely used. One of its main proponents, SUSE, switched to ext3, leading to [7]debates about its future as long ago as 2008. Now, SUSE kernel developer Jan Kara is not opposing Wilcox's idea, just [8]proposing a slower route.
[9]Intel energizes decades-old real-time Linux kernel project
[10]For first time in nearly 17 years, stable Linux kernel version has over 999 commits – but not everyone heard about it
[11]Linux distros haunted by Polkit-geist for 12+ years: Bug grants root access to any user
[12]Open source maintainer threatens to throw in the towel if companies won't ante up
[13]Fans of original gangster editors, look away now: It's Tilde, a text editor that doesn't work like it's 1976
Reiser initially maintained his innocence, then changed his plea, confessed, and [14]led police to his wife's body. The result of his [15]confession was his sentence being reduced from a minimum of 25 years to 15, meaning that he may soon be eligible for parole. ®
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[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YhIwUEpymVzmytdp@casper.infradead.org/
[2] https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/2/20/336
[3] https://reiser4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page
[4] https://www.linuxadictos.com/en/reiser5-un-sistema-de-archivos-en-desarrollo-integra-el-soporte-para-el-escalado-paralelo.html
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2006/10/11/hans_reiser_arrested_in_missing_woman_case/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YhgOGsHxs5KkxUwaUvkvwAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2008/05/01/reiser_conviction_re_invention/
[8] https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/2/22/280
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/24/intel_linutronix_linux/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/27/linux_999_commits/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/pwnkit_vulnerability_linuix/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/13/opensource_apacheplc4x_payment/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/17/tilde_text_editor/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2008/07/08/body_found_reiser/
[15] https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Reiser-confesses-to-strangling-estranged-wife-3197731.php
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Puzzled
Surely if ReiserFS is useful, it can be forked to a version that has nothing to do with its original developer.
Re: Puzzled
The issue has nothing to do with who the original developer was. It has to do with that it had few users to begin with (mainly Suse), and hardly anyone has used it in years. It was a niche file system to begin with and it's been an obsolete file system for years.
Nearly everybody uses Ext4, which does everything that they need. Other alternatives include XFS, ZFS, and BTRFS. ReiserFS was always an also-ran a long way behind the leaders.
As I understand it, Hans Reiser ran a small company which licensed out a non-open source version of his file system to proprietary SAN vendors. The open source Linux version of ReiserFS gave his small company a larger user base which gave the file system more testing than his small company could have economically done themselves. It always however had very limited use as compared the the more mainstream Linux file systems.
If anything what this shows is the overall stability of the underpinnings of Linux, that ReiserFS should have continued on for so long with so few Linux users.
Re: Puzzled
The problem isn't the name "ReiserFS". The problem is that for most people, the answer to the question "is it useful", is No.
I used to use it up until about 12 years ago, as it was a lot better than ext3. But when FreeBSD 8 came out, I switched to it, and to zfs. zfs is just sooooooooo much better than anything else out there. It is available on Linux now, and I can't think of any reason to use anything else.
Re: Puzzled
Agreed. I also used it a long time ago but switched to ext3 & 4. I'd guess its main use now is probably on boxes that haven't been updated for a long time.
"one of the other ReiserFS developers"
So just exactly how many are there? One? Two? Half dozen? Any particular reason they aren't developing, other than they lost interest?
Not beating up on them... just would genuinely like to find out.
I wonder
Say someone just did a find and replace, changing all references to "Reiser" to something else, and then submitted it as a brand new patch, if anyone would really know the difference.
Obviously murdering a spouse is wrong, but it also doesn't have any impact on the quality of the code. I have no horse in this race, it just seems like if the issue has to do with the fact that the guy who made it is an admitted murderer, they could just change the name and all references to the original author. If there's some other issue with the code or design of the filesystem then that's another story, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of that.
Re: I wonder
But what USP does it have that would make you want to switch to it from whatever you are using at the moment?
Not sure 'just' has anything to do with it (and nor should it). It's clear that the proposal is for entirely technical reasons and the suggestion to mark it as deprecated for a few years before actually removing it makes good sense to me at least.