From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Hans Reiser Subject: Re: Participation in developement of Reiser4 Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2004 09:19:56 -0800 Message-ID: <4189133C.9050203@namesys.com> References: <200411022342.02126.sikkh@wp.pl> <41891106.3000600@novell.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: list-help: list-unsubscribe: list-post: Errors-To: flx@namesys.com In-Reply-To: <41891106.3000600@novell.com> List-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format="flowed" To: Jeff Mahoney Cc: Piotr Neuman , reiserfs-list@namesys.com Jeff Mahoney wrote: > > All I can really give you as far as more specific advice is things I'd > like to see done with reiser4. The most obvious one, and one that should > be a fairly easy place to start, is to add support for the existing > xattr API to manipulate attributes that reiser4 currently provides under > the ..metas "meta-directory." The ..metas directory is quite > contraversial, and I'd hate to see reiser4 fall by the wayside because > it doesn't support a standard API. No, please, don't work on this. Work on copy on write links, and implement them as a plugin. Sorry for my not responding earlier, I was somehow blanking on needed features even though we have a ton of them. Copy on write links are probably feasible for a beginner. Alternatively, look for fixmes scattered throughout the code, and fix one of them. Or, find code that needs better commenting and comment it. > > If this feature is already implemented, I apologize, I haven't been > following reiser4 development too closely. > > As a note to Hans, who I expect will object strenuously to this email, > the issue of the elegance of the files-as-directories approach that > reiser4 users is a debate that will not likely be concluded any time > soon. I think the best thing for reiser4 to do is to cater to its users. If I don't add elegance, why bother to write ReiserFS? There are better ways to make money. > Many users will disable the files-as-directories support because it does > cause conflicts with existing apps. Whether that makes those apps > "buggy" or not is irrelevant: Users will just use another filesystem > rather than bug their favorite software author to adjust to a situation > that no other filesystem presents. Users that want to use the ..metas > approach are free to do so. To quote something that borders on trite > these days, "Since when does Linux eliminate choice?" > > -Jeff > > > -- > Jeff Mahoney > SuSE Labs