Re: reiser4 plugins

Christoph Hellwig
2005-06-22T09:21:56Z

On Tue, Jun 21, 2005 at 11:25:24PM -0500, David Masover wrote:
> > You're basically implementing another VFS layer inside of reiser4, which
> > is a big layering violation.
>
> There's been sloppy code in the kernel before. I remember one bit in
> particular which was commented "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw." If I
> remember correctly, this had all of the PCI ids and the names and
> manufacturers of the corresponding devices -- in a data structure -- in
> C source code. It was something like one massive array definition, or
> maybe it was a structure. I don't remember exactly, but...

Every device driver has a big array of corresponing device ids as an
array in C code - oh my god we're doomed .. not.

> I agree there, too. In fact, some people have suggested that all
> "legacy" (read: non-reiser) filesystems should be implemented as Reiser4
> plugins, effectively killing VFS.*
>
> So, Reiser4 may eventually take over VFS and be the only Linux
> filesystem, but if so, it will have to do it much more slowly. Take the
> good ideas -- things like plugins -- and make them at least look like
> incremental updates to the current VFS, and make them available to all
> filesystems.

And why exactly would we replace a stable, working abstraction with an unpoven
mess?