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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday August 23 2015, @07:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the is-it-named-systemd dept.

An ex-Google engineer is developing a new file system for Linux, with the hopes that it can offer a speedier and more advanced way of storing data on servers.

After a number of years of development, the Bcache File System (Bcachefs) "is more or less feature complete -- nothing critical should be missing," wrote project head Kent Overstreet, in an e-mail to the Linux Kernel Mailing List late Thursday.

Linux currently has plenty of working file systems, though no one file system seems to be best-suited for all uses.

The main goal of Bcachefs is to match the speed of traditional Linux file systems with the advanced scalability and reliability of newer file systems, Overstreet wrote.

Although not a sexy technology, file systems provide the interface to the operating system for storing files on a disk.

The most widely used file system among Linux users is the decades-old Gnu/Linux Extended Filesystem series of filesystems -- Ext4 being the latest release. But many organizations and users have gravitated towards other file systems, such as Btrfs or XFS, to handle very large amounts of data, or to use advanced techniques in ensuring data integrity.

This file system evolved from the work Overstreet did at Google, where he worked as a software engineer for two years from 2011 until 2013 to create caching software.

Bcachefs has all the features of a modern file system, Overstreet wrote, including checksumming to ensure data integrity, compression to save space, caching for quick response, and copy-on-write, which offers the ability for a single file to be accessed by multiple parties at once.

...

Overstreet is working on the file system on his own time, without outside funding. He is seeking other administrators and developers to test the system and even contribute to its development.

Nonetheless, the release of Bcachefs seems to have met with cautious optimism by the Linux professionals on the Hacker News online forum, though one contributor did say of Overstreet that "I hope the guy has a large stash in his bank. File systems take notoriously long to stabilize."


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @07:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @07:51PM (#226712)

    That's exactly what linux needed.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:10PM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:10PM (#226714) Journal

    It does if it is to stay relevant. Times change, things move on, new developments happen, even in file systems. Linux needs to have a healthy selection to choose from.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:37PM (#226721)

      I think the poster was being sarcastic. His point, if I understand correctly, is that Linux needs a whole lot more than just a new file system.

      • (Score: 1) by Francis on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:43PM

        by Francis (5544) on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:43PM (#226722)

        The only thing that Linux is lacking is large scale support. There's precious little I can't do with my Linux desktop that I could on Windows. And that's just a matter of certain vendors not wanting to support Linux.

        As far as filesystems go, there are already plenty of choices, There's no particular reason why we need yet another option.

        • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday August 24 2015, @01:34AM

          by frojack (1554) on Monday August 24 2015, @01:34AM (#226781) Journal

          Agreed. Anyone who would say linux might not be relevant because of a lack of file systems clearly has no clue about the wealth of file systems available. No other OS comes close.

          We have a problem of maintaining all of these file systems because developers wander away to play with the next shiny thing coming down the pike. Solid as a rock ReiserFS languishes, while BTRFS sucks all available developer hours chasing bugs and design flaws.

          --
          No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
          • (Score: 1) by Francis on Monday August 24 2015, @02:56AM

            by Francis (5544) on Monday August 24 2015, @02:56AM (#226796)

            Exactly. I don't necessarily object to more filesystems being available, if they're properly maintained and supported. But, having new ones when the current ones aren't all fixed doesn't seem like such a great idea. I remember years ago having EXT4 being unusable because it didn't have a fsck available. I had to reinstall that computer at least a dozen times before I got the message that it wasn't ready for primetime. I'm not sure how you could ship a filesystem that lacks such basic functionality.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:52PM (#226724)

    That's exactly what linux needed.

    After RaiserFS killed itself off .... we were short at least one.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @10:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @10:41PM (#226744)

      *ReiserFS. It's a German name.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @08:58PM (#226726)

    This one seems semi interesting in that it is based around the idea of caching with different datastores under it.

    At the very least it is interesting to watch. Meanwhile most people just use ext4.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @10:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @10:41PM (#226743)

      And redhat7 use xfs by default instead of ext4.. An old SGI filesystem fares better than the result of so many years of development of Linux FS.. Maybe Linux could not only reinvent the well but learn from other OSes..