Re: Reiserfs functionality

[Andrew Clausen]

On Wed, Jan 30, 2002 at 11:59:48AM -0500, Pradeep Padala wrote:
> > In 1.6.x, resize is supported, but not mkfs.  In the long run,
> > I think it would be better to use e2fsprogs code, just Ted Tso
> > doesn't seem to like the idea of putting everything in libraries,
> > which could make life difficult.
> 
> Yeah. I was thinking similarly. The libraries should contain
> enough functionality to get the work done like resizing, shrinking
> etc..

I think the libraries should have all the code to do this.
i.e. libe2fs should have ext2_resize()

> Does reiserfs has some libraries or the code is taken from the
> reiserfsprogs. It would be difficult to maintain the code, if
> libraries are not available and we hack the code, I guess.

Well, the best solution is to fix libreiserfs.
(ATM, it isn't exported, but that can be fixed... Yura
is working on it ;)

> > I haven't investigated hfs thoroughly to see how much work it
> > is to support resizing... I think the libhfsplus library is
> > fairly complete/ready for it.
> 
> I would look into it. I wanted to work on journaling file systems. Is
> it ok if I go on with jfs?

Of course :)  You might want to talk with the IBM/jfs people first
- they probably have some tips for you ;)  IIRC, they already have
a grower, but no shrinker.

BTW: ntfs is journalled

wrt journaling: you are thinking of utilizing journaling in
the resizer?  In general, I don't think it's very helpful for
resizers.  Since you will be making large batch changes to the fs,
it's easier IMHO to copy metadata, modify the copy, and then
activate it.  (You might want to look at tux2 and parted's fat
resizer for some ideas.  In both cases, power interruptions won't
result in data loss.)

Good luck!  Feel free to ask questions...

Andrew