linux-kernel - RE: [PATCH] hfs{plus}: add deprecation warning

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Message-ID: <4ecc225c641c0fee9725861670668352d305ad29.camel@ibm.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2025 17:56:25 +0000
From: Viacheslav Dubeyko <Slava.Dubeyko@....com>
To: "djwong@...nel.org" <djwong@...nel.org>,
        "brauner@...nel.org"
	<brauner@...nel.org>
CC: "jack@...e.com" <jack@...e.com>,
        "linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org"
	<linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "dsterba@...e.cz" <dsterba@...e.cz>,
        "sandeen@...hat.com" <sandeen@...hat.com>,
        "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org"
	<linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "torvalds@...ux-foundation.org"
	<torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
        "viro@...iv.linux.org.uk"
	<viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
        "willy@...radead.org" <willy@...radead.org>,
        "josef@...icpanda.com" <josef@...icpanda.com>
Subject: RE: [PATCH] hfs{plus}: add deprecation warning

On Wed, 2025-04-16 at 08:06 -0700, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 08:27:19AM +0200, Christian Brauner wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 07:49:07AM -0700, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> > > On Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 09:51:37AM +0200, Christian Brauner wrote:
> > > > Both the hfs and hfsplus filesystem have been orphaned since at least
> > > > 2014, i.e., over 10 years. It's time to remove them from the kernel as
> > > > they're exhibiting more and more issues and no one is stepping up to
> > > > fixing them.
> > > > 
> > > > Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@...nel.org>
> > > > ---
> > > >  fs/hfs/super.c     | 2 ++
> > > >  fs/hfsplus/super.c | 2 ++
> > > >  2 files changed, 4 insertions(+)
> > > > 
> > > > diff --git a/fs/hfs/super.c b/fs/hfs/super.c
> > > > index fe09c2093a93..4413cd8feb9e 100644
> > > > --- a/fs/hfs/super.c
> > > > +++ b/fs/hfs/super.c
> > > > @@ -404,6 +404,8 @@ static int hfs_init_fs_context(struct fs_context *fc)
> > > >  {
> > > >  	struct hfs_sb_info *hsb;
> > > >  
> > > > +	pr_warn("The hfs filesystem is deprecated and scheduled to be removed from the kernel in 2025\n");
> > > 
> > > Does this mean before or after the 2025 LTS kernel is released?  I would
> > 
> > I would've tried before the LTS release...
> 
> Well you still could.  No better way to get an oft-ignored filesystem
> back into maintenance by throwing down a deprecation notice. :)
> 
> > > say that we ought to let this circulate more widely among users, but
> > 
> > which is a valid point. The removal of reiserfs and sysv has been pretty
> > surgically clean. So at least from my POV it should be simple enough to
> > revert the removal. But I'm not dealing with stable kernels so I have no
> > intuition about the pain involved.
> 
> It'll probably cause a lot of pain for the distributions that support
> PPC Macs because that's the only fs that the OF knows how to read for
> bootfiles.  For dual-boot Intel Macs, their EFI partition is usually
> HFS+ and contains various system files (+ grub), but their EFI actually
> can read FAT.  I have an old 2012 Mac Mini that runs exclusively Debian,
> and a FAT32 ESP works just fine.
> 
> > > OTOH I guess no maintainer for a decade is really bad.
> 
> On those grounds,
> Acked-by: "Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@...nel.org>
> 
> --D
> 
> > > 
> > > --D
> > > 
> > > > +
> > > >  	hsb = kzalloc(sizeof(struct hfs_sb_info), GFP_KERNEL);
> > > >  	if (!hsb)
> > > >  		return -ENOMEM;
> > > > diff --git a/fs/hfsplus/super.c b/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> > > > index 948b8aaee33e..58cff4b2a3b4 100644
> > > > --- a/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> > > > +++ b/fs/hfsplus/super.c
> > > > @@ -656,6 +656,8 @@ static int hfsplus_init_fs_context(struct fs_context *fc)
> > > >  {
> > > >  	struct hfsplus_sb_info *sbi;
> > > >  
> > > > +	pr_warn("The hfsplus filesystem is deprecated and scheduled to be removed from the kernel in 2025\n");
> > > > +
> > > >  	sbi = kzalloc(sizeof(struct hfsplus_sb_info), GFP_KERNEL);
> > > >  	if (!sbi)
> > > >  		return -ENOMEM;
> > > > -- 
> > > > 2.47.2
> > > > 
> > > > 
> 

I contributed to HFS+ file system driver more than 10 years ago. And I was
completely discouraged because nobody maintained the HFS+ code base. But I would
prefer to see the HFS+ in kernel tree instead of complete removal. As far as I
can see, we are still receiving some patches for HFS/HFS+ code base. Nowadays, I
am mostly busy with CephFS and SSDFS file systems. But if we need more
systematic activity on HFS/HFS+, then I can find some time for HFS/HFS+ testing,
bug fix, and pathes review. I am not sure that I would have enough time for HFS+
active development. But is it really that nobody would like to be the maintainer
of HFS/HFS+? Have we asked the contributors and reviewers of HFS/HFS+?

Thanks,
Slava.