Re: MPSAFE VFS -- List of upcoming actions

2012/7/1 C. P. Ghost <cpghost_at_cordula.ws>:
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 10:32 PM, Attilio Rao <attilio_at_freebsd.org> wrote:
>> As already published several times, according to the following plan:
>> http://wiki.freebsd.org/NONMPSAFE_DEORBIT_VFS
>>
>> in 2 months the code dealing with non-MPSAFE filesystem will be
>> removed and filesystems not yet MPSAFE will be disconnected from the
>> tree. Their code will be however available in our official repository
>> yet for 6 months. This leaves a total time of 8 months to do actions.
>>
>> Current list of unmantained filesystems is: HPFS, NWFS, PortalFS and
>> XFS. Coda and SMBFS have current mantainership but the status of the
>> work has still to be determined. NTFS, is being worked for the Summer
>> of Code program. Finally, ReiserFS was successfully locked during this
>> campaign.
>
> Sorry if this has been discussed already, but...
>
> it's one thing to obsolete some code, it's a different thing to
> remove it entirely where there's no user-level replacement,
> especially since it would also remove the ability to access
> ancient media that some people may still have access to.
>
> Couldn't filesystems that are still not MP SAFE be kept in the
> tree in such a way that they at least provide read-only access
> in case of emergencies?

Unfortunately not.
First of all, they are mostly already READ-ONLY, in particular XFS and
NTFS. Second, it would be meaning leave in place the Giant-VFS bloat
that we necessarilly must get rid of.
The most interesting ones in the list, IMHO, are still SMBFS and NTFS
and possibly XFS (but this is really a personal preference).
I've received an e-mail explaining that there are arrangements by a
company to put their developers on work after 1st september on SMBFS
locking which is certainly a good new, but I still haven't heard
anything by SoC involved people about NTFS and certainly I don't see a
plan to get XFS locked.

However remind that at the worst (for filesystems like PortalFS, for
example) the code will remain in Attic even after it gets depurated
and then it can be revitalized and locked in whatever point in the
future.

Attilio


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