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From: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 7/9] exofs: mkexofs
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:14:23 -0800
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To: Boaz Harrosh <bharrosh@panasas.com>
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On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:33:48 +0200
Boaz Harrosh <bharrosh@panasas.com> wrote:

> We need a mechanism to prepare the file system (mkfs).
> I chose to implement that by means of a couple of
> mount-options. Because there is no user-mode API for committing
> OSD commands. And also, all this stuff is highly internal to
> the file system itself.
> 
> - Added two mount options mkfs=0/1,format=capacity_in_meg, so mkfs/format
>   can be executed by kernel code just before mount. An mkexofs utility
>   can now be implemented by means of a script that mounts and unmount the
>   file system with proper options.

Doing mkfs in-kernel is unusual.  I don't think the above description
sufficiently helps the uninitiated understand why mkfs cannot be done
in userspace as usual.  Please flesh it out a bit.

What are the dependencies for this filesystem code?  I assume that it
depends on various block- and scsi-level patches?  Which ones, and
what is their status, and is this code even compileable without them?

Thanks.