Re: When is a defragmenting tool expected to be released?

[Hans Reiser <reiser@namesys.com>]

Fred -- Speed Up -- wrote:

>Why won't there be a 2.4 version of Reiser4 ? I knew Reiser4 would be
>available for v2.5, but it is intended to be released on september (you know
>better than I, if you could tell me when Reiser4 would be released it would
>be nice :-D) and the 2.6 kernel should release at the end of 2003, maybe
>first quarter of 2004 
>
Is this the latest guess for 2.6?  Do you have a URL for it?

>: why would you release a stable Reiser4 code only on
>2.5 kernels, as 2.4 versions may be used for at least one year before major
>distros include the 2.6 version.
>
Ask us again when Reiser4 is stable;-).

>Is Reiser4 intended to replace Reiser3 (I've read Reiser4 mounter may be
>able to mount Reiser3 volumes), or will Reiser3 be kept in 2.2 and 2.4
>kernels, as Reiser4 would be 2.5 (and 2.6 ;)) dedicated ?
>

I expect reiser3 to be in Linux kernel for 10+ more years.

>There are probably necessary features issues (the new VFS maybe), and mostly
>performance issues to that would make you release Reiser4 for 2.5 kernels,
>but why did you choose to make Reiser4 2.5-only compliant ?
>
Limited staff, the need to focus on making it work for something....

>Why aren't there news on the Namesys website ? Maybe cvs logs, or whatever
>completion percentage, implemented features, stable ones, maybe some new
>performance tests (there are no tests comparing Reiser4, XFS and JFS anymore
>on your website) ?
>You seem to be a bit late about the kernel experimental release : the latest
>one is 2.5.68, and your patches are only available up to 2.5.60. When do you
>decide to move on to a newer experimental kernel version ?
>
Oleg?

>May Reiser4 be included in the -ac series ?
>
I think we need to get reiser4 stable first, then worry about what 
kernels it is in.  Eventually, yes, I would hope so....

>
>
>While you're up, I've got some questions to ask you (you don't have to
>answer all of them ...), as I'm very interersted in your filesystem, and I'm
>writing a french doc about Reiser4 :
>
>- Firstly the trees. I read that the it (the storage one, not the semantic
>side) grew on top, which makes the key grow in lenght.
>
I'll answer the below later.  Remind me if I forget....

> But what about fanout
>? When a file has been deleted, can its former key be freed and reused so
>that the tree keeps balanced ? Does Reiser4 otpimize the tree by storing
>small files together in a part of the tree, or directories, or whatever
>organisation : when a file is being written, does Reiser4 give it the first
>key it finds, or does a segragation exist in order to improve performance ?
>For instance, small temp files are created and deleted numbers of times,
>does a special part of the tree keep those temp files so that only a little
>part of the tree is constantly changing ?
>- What do you call a 'graph' when speaking about the structure the semantic
>layer uses to resolve paths ? How does this part really work (it is not
>formally spcified in the doc) ?
>- How about folders : what status do they have ? They may be stored as other
>files, as they have to keep their own properties, but their information (the
>folder's files and subfolder list) is being kept in the semantic layer's
>graph : how do you handle with this ?
>- Why do you need to store the locality_id in the key ?
>- How do you handle with big files wich do not fit in contiguous bloc space,
>so they need more than one extended pointer ? How are those other pointers
>stored ?
>- B+Trees are simply BTrees that do not use BLOBs, am I right ?
>- Dancing trees are simply Balanced Trees wich are only modified in an event
>of memory pressure, don't they ?
>- How is the developement ? I mean, should we await the Reiser 4.0 release
>this summer, or do you need some more time ? What features will be included
>in 4.0 and which will be left for 4.1 ? Will the packer be ready for release
>as Reiser 4.0 comes out ?
>
>
>Sorry if I'm bugging you, but as you're Release Manager I'm pretty sure
>you're the right person to ask ;)
>Thank all the Reiser team for the great job you do, and for releasing such
>huge documentation about the project without the help of which I wouldn't be
>able to understand what's going on ;)
>
>Fred
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Oleg Drokin" <green@namesys.com>
>To: "Fred -- Speed Up --" <speedup@free.fr>
>Cc: <reiserfs-list@namesys.com>
>Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2003 9:30 AM
>Subject: Re: When is a defragmenting tool expected to be released?
>
>
>  
>
>>Hello!
>>
>>On Sat, Apr 26, 2003 at 08:14:47AM +0200, Fred -- Speed Up -- wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hans said Reiser4 would use data preallocate blocks as ext2 does, and
>>>      
>>>
>the
>  
>
>>>Reiser4 feature paper is speaking about a "repacker" that should be
>>>      
>>>
>fully
>  
>
>>>functionnal at 4.1 release. How do you feel about that ?
>>>      
>>>
>>reiser4 has delaying allocation implemented.
>>The "preallocate blocks as ext2 does" reference is reiserfs (v3) thing
>>(there is no 2.4 version of reiser4)
>>
>>Bye,
>>    Oleg
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>  
>


-- 
Hans