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

Jeff Garzik
2006-06-09T15:51:23Z

Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 09, 2006 at 11:40:03AM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>> 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.
>>
>> From the user's perspective, ext3 has no clear "metadata version 1",
>> "metadata version 2" division. Thus they are now forced to keep a
>> matrix of kernel versions and ext3 feature flag support, to know which
>> kernels are usable with which data. It is a support nightmare.
>
> Hang on, you're going too far. You have to enable extents with the
> extent mount option. Otherwise you don't get to use them. The user
> does, in fact, have a clear division, although maybe the blinky signs
> aren't quite luminous enough.

...and how are distros going to deploy this? They are going to turn on
extents by default.

And do we honestly think that is a scalable option _anyway_? That will
slowly bloat fstab and mount command lines with an ever-increasing list
of options.

It's IMO better experience for the user, and gives the developers more
freedom.Look, I _really_ want extents. I am a big fan. But I think
that extents are good time to make a clean break, and let ext3 live as
it is. And it will let ext3 stabilize.

Jeff