Re: [RFC PATCH 1/1] xfsprogs: mkfs.xfs add default configuration file.

["Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@kernel.org>]

On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 11:05:14AM -0500, Eric Sandeen wrote:
> On 5/14/26 10:21 AM, Carlos Maiolino wrote:
> > On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 04:37:17PM +0200, Lukas Herbolt wrote:
> >> Various users may prefer different default values. Having a default config
> >> file will allow them to utilize it without the need specifying configuration
> >> file on command line.
> >>
> > The idea seems reasonable, to have a default file to load if it's found.
> > I just particularly don't like the idea of shipping/installing a 'default'
> > config file.
> > I think we could ship an "example" one, but leave to distributions to decide
> > what to do. If they would install a default config or not. And maintain
> > the default config file.
> > LTS configs are easy to maintain because we know no new features will be
> > ported to LTS. Providing a default config file from the mainline risks
> > getting a lot of user complains if we in the future decide to change the
> > 'defaults' of the default config file.
> 
> Thanks for starting this discussion Lukas.
> 
> I'm sure others will have Deeper Thoughts but I more or less agree with
> Carlos here - a default config file to be loaded /if it exists/ but maybe
> not existing by default - because we already have defaults hardcoded into
> the binary itself - might be a more maintainable path for upstream.
> Otherwise I see new tests appearing which are like "make sure the dfault
> config we ship matches the defaults built into the binary itself" which
> seems like unneeded complexity.
> 
> (i.e. the os-specific config files could be renamed or symlinked to
> that special default config file path, for example?)
> 
> I could maybe see generating an example defaults config file which matches
> the built-in defaults at build time? Not sure if that would be useful
> or helpful (or complex).

I think that would be a lot easier than us trying to keep the default
config file in sync with xfs_mkfs.c by hand.

--D

> 
> Thanks,
> -Eric
>