Reiser4 Updated For Linux 4.14 & Introduces Zstd Compression Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Reiser4 Updated For Linux 4.14 & Introduces Zstd Compression Support

The out-of-tree Reiser4 file-system driver has been updated with compatibility for the latest Linux 4.14 stable series. Besides reworking the code to run on Linux 4.14, this controversial file-system has also added support for Zstd file-system compression...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Reiser4-Linux-4.14-Zstd

[Azpegath]

Can't we please stop calling it a "controversial file-system"? The creator (and some of the history around him) was controversial in many aspects, but I'm not so certain the actual file-system is controversial.

[sireangelus]

hey michael why dont you do a bench of reiser4?

[NateHubbard]

Can't we please stop calling it a "controversial file-system"? The creator (and some of the history around him) was controversial in many aspects, but I'm not so certain the actual file-system is controversial.

It will always be controversial. That is, unless they change the name like they probably should have a decade ago.

[uid313]

Is Reiser4 the best file system around?
Is it better than ext4, XFS and Btrfs?

[post-factum]

It will always be controversial. That is, unless they change the name like they probably should have a decade ago.

The only controversial thing there is those guys that make unjustified political decision prior to (not) taking this FS into upstream. The FS itself has pretty clear design, and calling it "controversial" is just a matter of following Phoronix-like style. Wait. Oh shi~…

[pegasus]

Is Reiser4 the best file system around?
Is it better than ext4, XFS and Btrfs?

It could very well be. At least there are still some workloads around that basically only work on reiserfs (v3). Just ask the fastmail.fm guys

[thelongdivider]

Is Reiser4 the best file system around?
Is it better than ext4, XFS and Btrfs?

Short answer; no. It's not as feature rich as BTRFS, nor as performant as Ext4 or XFS.

[post-factum]

Short answer; no. It's not as feature rich as BTRFS, nor as performant as Ext4 or XFS.

It shouldn't be feature rich by default. It has flexible plugin system for that.

Regarding performance, be so kind to tell us how you have measured it.

[starshipeleven]

Is Reiser4 the best file system around?
Is it better than ext4, XFS and Btrfs?

Does not bring anything significantly new to the table (it was interesting like 10 years ago), it's far less used than even btrfs (or ZFS-on-Linux), and the fact that they never addressed the issues raised when Reiser tried to upstream it back then does not make me terribly confident in its quality or stability.