linux-ext4 - Re: [PATCH 0/3] Remove ext3 filesystem driver

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Message-ID: <55A67A57.8010502@gmail.com>
Date:	Wed, 15 Jul 2015 11:20:55 -0400
From:	Austin S Hemmelgarn <ahferroin7@...il.com>
To:	Eric Sandeen <sandeen@...hat.com>,
	Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org>,
	Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.com>,
	linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Andreas Dilger <adilger.kernel@...ger.ca>,
	Jens Axboe <axboe@...nel.dk>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/3] Remove ext3 filesystem driver

On 2015-07-15 11:11, Eric Sandeen wrote:
> On 7/15/15 10:09 AM, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>> On 07/15/15 08:05, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>>> On 07/15/15 07:18, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 12:26:24PM +0200, Jan Kara wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>    so I have created this patch set which removes ext3 driver (and some related support
>>>>> code) from the kernel. See changelog of patch 2/3 for more details. If noone objects,
>>>>> I will queue the series in my tree for the next merge window.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jens, are you OK with me merging patch 3/3 or do you want me to send it to you once
>>>>> the first two patches get merged?
>>>>>
>>>>> Ted, this also touches ext4 driver so that it always handles ext3 filesystems so ack
>>>>> from you would be nice.
>>>>
>>>> Got tired of maintaining ext3, eh?   :-)
>>>>
>>>> As a minor nit, I wonder if it's worth while to put in some hackery in
>>>> fs/Kconfig so that if someone only has CONFIG_FS_EXT3 defined, but not
>>>> CONFIG_FS_EXT4 defined, that it will automatically enable
>>>> CONFIG_FS_EXT4 instead?  Otherwise someone upgrading their kernel
>>>> might accidentally end up getting a non-functional kernel.
>>>>
>>>> i.e., something like this? (not tested!)
>>>>
>>>> config FS_EXT3
>>>>         def_bool n
>>>>         select FS_EXT4
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, if someone is going to force us to use ext4, some automation would
>>> be helpful.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>
>> Are there any other changes required, e.g., to /etc/fstab ?
>>
>> btw, this looks like an April 1 joke to me.
>
> no fstab changes required.  The ext4 driver has been able to register
> itself as ext[23] for quite some time now, so it's transparent.
>
> Many/most distros have been using the ext4.ko driver for ext3 & ext2 for
> years.  You may already be using that on some boxes, and not even know it.
> ;)
Yeah, 99% of the systems I've seen in the past 2 years have been using 
either the ext4 driver, or using exclusively ext2 (mostly embedded 
systems, and they usually choose ext2 because it's _very_ lightweight 
compared to ext[34] and the other alternatives).

There really isn't much of a clear distinction between ext3 and ext4 (at 
least from an end user standpoint), other than the fact that there are 
some options that only the ext4 driver understands (like extent based 
allocation).


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