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

Michael Poole
2006-06-09T18:23:04Z

Jeff Garzik writes:

> Andrew Morton wrote:
> > Ted&co have been pretty good at avoiding compatibility problems.
>
> Well, extents and 48bit make that track record demonstrably worse.
>
> Users are now forced to remember that, if they write to their
> filesystem after using either $mmver or $korgver kernels, they are
> locked out of using older kernels.

Users are also forced to remember that, if they use certain new
distros or programs, they are locked out of using older kernels. They
are forced to remember that if they have certain newer hardware, they
are locked out of using older kernels. They are forced to remember
that if they use ext3 (or XFS or JFS) _at all_ they are locked out of
using older kernels. Why single out this particular aspect of limited
forward compatibility to harp on so much?

Michael Poole