Reiser4 May Go For Mainline Inclusion In 2010

The Reiser4 file-system has been around since 2004 but has not reached a point of being close to be included in the mainline Linux kernel, especially after the lead developer, Hans Reiser, was convicted of murdering his wife. Development of Reiser4 has continued on, albeit with a very limited number of developers, and not nearly at the brisk pace of Btrfs or with great interest by corporate parties. The last TODO list update on the Reiser4 file-system was posted back in April with just five items un-addressed. In late July it was then shared by Edward Shishkin, a former employee of Hans Reiser's Namesys who has since effectively taken over work on Reiser4, that in the Autumn they would begin exploring the opportunity of getting this file-system in the mainline Linux kernel.

In the United States, the end of Autumn is nearing and Winter is approaching, but there hasn't yet been any push to get Reiser4 into the mainline Linux kernel. What has happened? Well, we asked Shishkin. Before asking Linus to pull Reiser4 into the mainline Linux kernel, he first wants to publish a plug-in design document in a scholarly magazine in order to facilitate some independent expert review. After missing the deadline for FAST 2010, Shishkin is now hoping to publish this Reiser4 document for USENIX Annual 2010. This would be due in January, but their annual conference does not take place until June. After that, they can focus on finally getting this advanced Linux file-system into the mainline code-base.

It's possible we could possibly see Reiser4 in the mainline Linux kernel in H2'2010. Assuming this all works out and Shishkin and the other developers go for inclusion shortly thereafter, it would put Reiser4 on the block around the Linux 2.6.36 time-frame.