Re: [RFC 0/13] extents and 48bit ext3

Olivier Galibert
2006-06-10T14:07:19Z

On Fri, Jun 09, 2006 at 09:06:51PM -0400, Theodore Tso wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 10, 2006 at 02:49:32AM +0200, Sven-Haegar Koch wrote:
> > I see a different problem with "ext3 + extends is not ext3 anymore" when
> > the feature goes mainstream:
> > - user with old distri, no extends in use, no kernel support for them
> > - user has some kind of problem
> > - uses new rescue disk (aka knoppix at the time of problem) - that then
> > is current stuff, and certainly uses extents - fixes problem on disk
> > (may be a simple as running lilo/grub from chroot, happens often for me)
> > - tries to boot back into his distri -> *boom* he lost
>
> Incorrect, because unless you explicitly enable the use of extents,
> the mere act of using a new kernel such as might be found on knoppix
> will not result in the filesystem utilizing the extent feature.

And how shall the rescue/live CD know whether to use the feature?

OG.