[arch-general] BTRFS integration

[C Anthony Risinger]

On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Gaurish Sharma
<contact at gaurishsharma.com> wrote:
> On 05/03/2010 12:40 AM, Nilesh Govindarajan wrote:
>>
>>
>> BTRFS is not marked stable by the developers yet, its dangerous to include
>> it in the interest of arch newbies. A disk crash may spoil the impression of
>> Arch.
>>
>> In my opinion, we should wait some more time till the developers of BTRFS
>> release a stable version to include it into AIF.
>>
> +1
> Till Ext4 would fill the gaps

i agree it probably should not be visible by default (one suggested
option was a flag to AIF, like aif --expert), but the tools
(hooks/etc.) need to be developed and stabilized too.  there are many
users who want to try BTRFS regardless of the risks, and i think we
should let them test  other integration points along with it.

what good is a stable FS if the tools to use it are alpha and buggy
for 1 year afterward?  that leaves a worse impression than letting
advanced users, aware of the risks, use the tools and provide
feedback.

in my opinion we need to let AIF/etc. integration mature along with
the FS itself.  this way when BTRFS is marked "stable" the tools will
be ready as well and it will be a minor transition.  personally, i've
been using btrfs for almost a year without issue, and i see much
positive feedback from others around the net as well.

my main issue is that btrfs is advanced and we have much to think
about the way we want to include it.  rollback support and friends are
very cool (this just saved me the other day actually) and i think
would provide a great benefit to the arch rolling model.

additionally, ext4 developer (Tso) has been quoted as saying ext4 is
little more than a bridge to BTRFS.  in my opinion ext4 is of no
interest.

C Anthony