Reiser4

[waster]

If you want to add the fast new Reiser4 file system, I think the following method works best with Ubuntu:

Do not use mm kernel patches - there are lots of dangerous things, and conflicts with the ubuntu patches.

Instead, go to:
ftp://ftp.namesys.com/pub/reiser4-for-2.6/

where you can download a single patch file which applies to the linux-source package you can get from the ubuntu repositories.

In my case:
apt-get install linux-source-2.6.11 (this is the ubuntu pre-patched package)
cd /usr/src
tar -xjf linux-source-2.6.11.tar.bz2
wget ftp://ftp.namesys.com/pub/reiser4-fo....11-3.patch.gz
gunzip reiser4-for-2.6.11-3.patch.gz
cd linux-source-2.6.11
patch -p1 < ../reiser4-for-2.6.11-3.patch

The patching should all be successful.

make menuconfig

(you might have to install ncurses libs to make this work. These are suggested/recommended by the linux-source package - look in your package manager to work out exactly what you need)

navigate to file systems, and you should see [ ] Reiser4
set it to be compiled as a module.

then exit, saving changes.

make-kpkg

in the parent directory, there should now be a xxxxx.deb kernel package. Install this using

dpkg -i filename

reboot.

this would probably need untold messing around to have a root reiser4 partition. maybe easier to compile not as a module but into the kernel if you do this, to avoid ******* around with initrd.

Now, can anyone tell me what the best setup would be with RAID and reiser4 partitions. Chunk sizes, and block sizes, etc. for shared media patritions?

Cheers,
Jack

[TravisNewman]

I might add to this, that it's still in development to an extent, and that some have complained of instability and corruption from Reiser4.

That said, I haven't seen any at all. I didn't use Reiser 4 for very long, but it seemed to work just fine.

[lonblu]

Sorry, why not to have a package containing a precompiled module for the specific kernel?
I need to do a lot of work to manually configure the kernel and I'm never sure it has everything I would ever need.
If I don't filter the .config I need to spend hours for a kernel compilation.


So... Why isn't this module available in the apt repositories?

[smokeslikeapoet]

Just a note as I've helped write/edit some Reiser4 howto's for Gentoo. Unless you want to download a developmental version of Grub, only attempt Reiser4 partitions on systems that you have a separate /boot partition and leave the /boot partion as ext2 or ext3. Also there are known problems to exist compiling certain applications on a Reiser4 partion, so you may want to leave yourself a fallback partion with a different filesystem if you are a developer. Also, formatting Reiser4 is always destructive. There are no tools yet to upgrade any filesystem including Reiser 3, a.k.a reiserfs to reiser4, so you may be stuck with a total system reinstall if you plan on moving to this filesystem.

[plb]

I've had no troubles with Reiser4 and I've been using it for about 6 months (boot is reiserfs)

[wavex]

I've used reiser4 with gentoo a few times.
The first time might system went corrupt after about two weeks of use. This was awhile ago though.
I'm using it now with a gentoo system. Wish I never did. Stability seems to be there now but the speed is nothing to brag about.

I prefer xfs myself. Does ubuntu allow xfs installation?

[plb]

I've used reiser4 with gentoo a few times.
The first time might system went corrupt after about two weeks of use. This was awhile ago though.
I'm using it now with a gentoo system. Wish I never did. Stability seems to be there now but the speed is nothing to brag about.

I prefer xfs myself. Does ubuntu allow xfs installation?

Not sure, but why not just backup your data and slap xfs on it

[wavex]

No room to backup.

[dejitarob]

I use reiser4fs on all four of my boxes with no problems at all. I just formatted with it when I installed off the cd though. This is for the latest version?

[jobdrb]

How could I install reiserfs4 on / . ?

Since ubuntu do note offer reiserfs4 support.

Well, I realy apreciate on way to remake the install cd to use reiserfs4, from instalation time.

How could I do this?

I use reiser4fs on all four of my boxes with no problems at all. I just formatted with it when I installed off the cd though. This is for the latest version?