Ubuntu 19.10 Makes It So Easy To Have Your Desktop Running Off A ZFS File-System

[Charlie68]

To humbly disagree: that's where you're wrong. Simply look at OSX and Windows 7+ features in regards to rollback, snapshots, backup options, etc. The current Linux methods for doing that involve BTRFS and snapshots or File System over LVM+LUKS or LUKS+LVM with a custom rolled backup strategy. ZFS offers all of that under one toolkit versus the two/three or more toolkits needed without ZFS.

Simply put, desktop users like simplicity and ZFS offers that in the form of a single solution that covers all file system needs.

Yes, but Canonical still has a lot of work to do, it is not enough to support a file system, it must also allow users to use it through tools, such as snapper for openSUSE and their configuration. Otherwise it is useless ... in openSUSE with Btrfs everything is already configured by default.

[itoffshore]

So, like, Btrfs is obviously an untested, unstable bit-black-hole and so the rock-solid alternative is an out-of-tree, foreign file system wrapped in an ad hoc abstraction layer...

I've also run btrfs on Alpine Linux webservers for 5 years with zero problems - I think I've needed to run btrfs balance twice in this time. For a root filesystem it's fine & with lxc it is great.

For data integrity zfs is an obvious choice even if out of tree (thanks dkms) - zfsonlinux / freebsd zfs share the same codebase with illumos.

[skeevy420]

Yes, but Canonical still has a lot of work to do, it is not enough to support a file system, it must also allow users to use it through tools, such as snapper for openSUSE and their configuration. Otherwise it is useless ... in openSUSE with Btrfs everything is already configured by default.

That's literally what Ubuntu's zsys is for:

ZSYS is a Zfs SYStem tool targeting an enhanced ZOL experience.

It allows running multiple ZFS systems in parallel on the same machine, get automated snapshots, managing complex zfs dataset layouts separating user data from system and persistent data, and more.

So you were saying?

[ThiagoCMC]

So, I just downloaded the Ubuntu 19.10 daily ISO, that option still doesn't exist...
How to enable it?

[ThiagoCMC]

AHA! I had to:

apt update
apt full-upgrade

...within the Live CD and then, ZFS APPEARED!!! WHEEEE!!!!

[ThiagoCMC]

...Installed crashed... lol

[johan.ehnberg]

AHA! I had to:

apt update
apt full-upgrade

...within the Live CD and then, ZFS APPEARED!!! WHEEEE!!!!

apt update && apt install ubiquity seems to suffice

That said, when I tested in a VM, it does not find initrd

[Charlie68]

That's literally what Ubuntu's zsys is for:



So you were saying?

I tried to test it in Ubuntu 19.10 and couldn't get it to work. By the way it seems to be a demon, is there also a graphical interface?
I don't want to discourage anyone, but from experience I wait to see a job done. It is necessary to make sure that everything works well without the user having to go and manage things from system configuration files. I don't think this will be ready for 19.10, it will be necessary to wait at least 20.04.

[skeevy420]

I tried to test it in Ubuntu 19.10 and couldn't get it to work. By the way it seems to be a demon, is there also a graphical interface?
I don't want to discourage anyone, but from experience I wait to see a job done. It is necessary to make sure that everything works well without the user having to go and manage things from system configuration files. I don't think this will be ready for 19.10, it will be necessary to wait at least 20.04.

AFAIK, there isn't a GUI for it yet; official or third-party. And I don't think it'll be ready for the average user by 19.10 either. For that matter, I wouldn't expect a GUI before 20.10; I really hope I'm wrong with that guess, but it does fit the Ubuntu time frame and how they do things.

But they've been working on it for a while now and it's just now starting to be ready for the "btw, I use Arch" people that can already do most of what zsys is trying to accomplish with custom rolled solutions and scripts. Zsys aims to roll all of that into one cohesive package. Once their "1.0" release happens is when I expect additional features like a GUI to be started. Make sure the installer and "autoconfig: you shouldn't have to touch system config files" all works for lots of use cases and then give it a GUI -- it makes sense to me -- you don't make GParted without having Parted first.

Oh, according to other Phoronix posters you have to do an update or upgrade within the live session to get the new ZFS stuff...but I'm sure you know how to scroll up and that this may be a bit redundant.

[Mario Junior]

Still not available on daily iso

AHA! I had to:

apt update
apt full-upgrade

...within the Live CD and then, ZFS APPEARED!!! WHEEEE!!!!

Thanks dude!