linux-ext4 - Re: [GIT PULL] Ext3 removal, quota & udf fixes

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Message-ID: <CA+55aFz+n6uE7hRB=2mxeLiaVK8qTwjfSU_f_sAMY7kK0AG0sg@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:39:38 -0700
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Raymond Jennings <shentino@...il.com>
Cc:	Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>, LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org" <linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [GIT PULL] Ext3 removal, quota & udf fixes

On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 3:31 PM, Raymond Jennings <shentino@...il.com> wrote:
>
> That said, I wouldn't mind myself if the ext4 driver were given a very
> grueling regression test to make sure it can actually handle old ext3
> systems as well as the ext3 driver can.

That's not my only worry. Things like "can you go back to ext3-only"
is an issue too - I don't think that's been a big priority for ext4
any more, and if there are any existing hold-outs that still use ext3,
they may want to be able to go back to old kernels.

So it's not just a "you can use ext4 instead" issue. Can you do that
*without* then forcing an upgrade forever on that partition? I'm not
sure the ext4 people are really even willing to guarantee that kind of
backwards compatibility.

I could be ok with removing ext3 in theory, but I haven't seen a lot
of rationale for it, and I don't know if there are still users who may
have their own good reasons to stay with ext3. Maybe there has been
lots of discussion about this on fsdevel (which I don't follow), and
I'm just lacking the background, but if so I want to see that
background. Not just a oneliner description that basically says
"remove ext3 support".

                    Linus
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