Linux File-Systems Keeps Getting Better, But More Improvements Are Sought

Linux file-systems continue getting better along with the infrastructure around it in the VFS and block code, but still there are some pain points for both users and developers around Linux storage.

Steven French who is a Samba developer and the kernel CIFS VFS maintainer while serving as Microsoft's principal software engineer on Azure storage, presented at last week's Linux Plumbers Conference 2018 on some of the recent file-system/VFS improvements as well as current pain points.

Among the work covered is the ongoing development into a new file-system mount API, the new statx syscall for extended stats, new security capabilities, supporting faster storage devices, growing improvements around Linux in the cloud, and other improvements for Linux file-system performance and stability.

But there still are Linux storage gripes around the need for richer ACLs, copy offloading could be better, better sparse file support in tools, more efficient handling between the VFS and file-systems, and greater adoption around statx.

More information on French's thoughts around Linux file-systems in 2018 can be found from his PDF presentation.