Re: [Ext2-devel] [RFC 0/13] extents and 48bit ext3

Helge Hafting
2006-06-19T07:51:59Z

Alex Tomas wrote:
>>>>>> Jeff Garzik (JG) writes:
>>>>>>
>
> JG> No, there is a key difference between ext3 and SCSI/etc.: cruft is removed.
>
> JG> In ext3, old formats are supported for all eternity.
>
> we'd need this anyway. just to let users to migrate.
>
Not really. Today, people use reiserfs even though they couldn't
just remount their old ext2 as reiserfs.

An ext2/ext3-incompatible ext4 isn't a problem. Sure, people will
have to mkfs instead of just remounting, and that will mean fewer
quick conversions in the short-term. But people using ext3 today
don't really need ext4 - they are per definition running on sufficiently
small disks/partitions.

So an incompatible ext4 will still see use - on new filesystems mostly.
Not a problem, people buy disks all the time.

Helge Hafting