Bcachefs File-System Re-Submitted For Linux 6.6

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Bcachefs File-System Re-Submitted For Linux 6.6

The Bcachefs file-system code born out of the Linux kernel's block cache code was submitted for Linux 6.5 but ultimately rejected. Bcachefs is now trying again to land for the current Linux 6.6 merge window...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Bcachefs-For-Linux-6.6-PR

[darkbasic]

I'm positive things will move forward this time.

[holunder]

I have hoped they would reconsider their confusing name but my post on the mailing list got largely ignored:

Hi Kent et al., but especially Kent,

I’m very impressed by Bcachefs and very much looking forward to this FS hopefully delivering us from eternally flawed btrfs.
But I do have a consideration and please forgive me this blunt overreach: It would really gain from a better name.

Please don’t take this personally. I know, Bcache was your invention and its derivative is a fine academic name for an academic project. But for users? As much as I’m looking forward to using this FS for the next decades, having to read and write this name frequently doesn’t get me excited. It’s a fine academic name but
a) has too many syllables
b) is hard to remember and hard to type (I still always want to write Becachefs like in BeFS)
c) is downright confusing when you just read "cache" and think this is some sort of swap? [Want to add in this forum that some friends were extra confused when reading "chef".]
d) is loosing against ZFS in the battle for coolness

Think of project names like SPDY, QUIC, even XFS. Heck, why not a non-acronymic name, something like "Bontree", a wordplay with B+ trees? At the same time an allusion to one of btrfs’ pronunciations and the French word for "good". Something conveying a feeling, something to identify with. It doesn’t have to be this technical letter salad - it doesn’t even need the "fs" part, the "ext" series was perfectly good without. In fact, damn the fs part in a rebranding.

I’m not here to suggest a better name but maybe you could ask the community? I beg you to consider a shorter, cooler name for this FS before it’s reaching end users on mainline. It really does deserve it!

With best regards
xx

[MastaG]

I have hoped they would reconsider their confusing name but my post on the mailing list got largely ignored:

Hi Kent et al., but especially Kent,

I’m very impressed by Bcachefs and very much looking forward to this FS hopefully delivering us from eternally flawed btrfs.
But I do have a consideration and please forgive me this blunt overreach: It would really gain from a better name.

Please don’t take this personally. I know, Bcache was your invention and its derivative is a fine academic name for an academic project. But for users? As much as I’m looking forward to using this FS for the next decades, having to read and write this name frequently doesn’t get me excited. It’s a fine academic name but
a) has too many syllables
b) is hard to remember and hard to type (I still always want to write Becachefs like in BeFS)
c) is downright confusing when you just read "cache" and think this is some sort of swap? [Want to add in this forum that some friends were extra confused when reading "chef".]
d) is loosing against ZFS in the battle for coolness

Think of project names like SPDY, QUIC, even XFS. Heck, why not a non-acronymic name, something like "Bontree", a wordplay with B+ trees? At the same time an allusion to one of btrfs’ pronunciations and the French word for "good". Something conveying a feeling, something to identify with. It doesn’t have to be this technical letter salad - it doesn’t even need the "fs" part, the "ext" series was perfectly good without. In fact, damn the fs part in a rebranding.

I’m not here to suggest a better name but maybe you could ask the community? I beg you to consider a shorter, cooler name for this FS before it’s reaching end users on mainline. It really does deserve it!

With best regards
xx

Lol.. this hits nail on the head in the sense that judging from the name alone, I expected bcachefs to be some special purpose filesystem.
Like ubifs, overlayfs or something like that.
I didn't expect it to be a general use fs like btrfs.

[WereCatf]

Lol.. this hits nail on the head in the sense that judging from the name alone, I expected bcachefs to be some special purpose filesystem.
Like ubifs, overlayfs or something like that.
I didn't expect it to be a general use fs like btrfs.

I'll echo the sentiment as well: when I first read about bcachefs, I thought it was specifically meant for some sort of high-performance caching or something. The "b" there seems reasonable as a reference to b-trees, but it's the "cache" that makes it sound something quite different than it is.

But oh well, there are a lot of confusingly-named things out there that everyone uses anyway, so it doesn't really seem like an issue here, either. At least I just won't mind if they leave the name as-is.

[holunder]

Lol.. this hits nail on the head in the sense that judging from the name alone, I expected bcachefs to be some special purpose filesystem.
Like ubifs, overlayfs or something like that.
I didn't expect it to be a general use fs like btrfs.

The first forum reply has more words than they cared to write back. 🥲

Just thought about another cool name: Bnext or BNXT!

[Berniyh]

I’m very impressed by Bcachefs and very much looking forward to this FS hopefully delivering us from eternally flawed btrfs.

Pretty sure that once people start trying to use it, it'll be considered eternally flawed by a good portion of potential users, too.

[timofonic]

Computing is extremely full of confusing names everywhere.

What I expect is a real competitor to both ZFS and Btrfs, plus implementing more innovations in the filesystem world too. I want a modern filesystem usable for desktop, server and beyond. And please optimize resource usage without limiting features and robustness, I understand it's an extremely big challenge.

I really hope more developers and companies get interested in Bcachefs, investing manpower and other resources on it. I hope someday there's at least a dozen of full time paid developers or even more.

I hope it really gets merged this time.

Thanks Michael, for following Bcachefs and it's merging efforts. Please continue doing it!

Thanks Kent and others, for keeping the hard work!

Thanks Linus and the rest of the kernel developers!

[Khrundel]

That was fast, I was under impression Kent attempts to merge upstream once per year.

[skeevy420]

I’m not here to suggest a better name but maybe you could ask the community? I beg you to consider a shorter, cooler name for this FS before it’s reaching end users on mainline. It really does deserve it!

With best regards
xx

It's called Bcachefs because it's a file system based on Bcache. It's not a very creative name, but it makes sense. Using acronyms/letters, my first instinct would have been to call it BCFS.

Because of the developer's name, Kent, I personally refer to Bcachefs as "Popcorn"....only because "And from now on, stop playing with yourself!" isn't a good name.