Canonical Confirms Their Experimental ZFS Plans For The Ubuntu 19.10 Desktop

We've known for months about Canonical working to ramp up their ZFS On Linux support for Ubuntu 19.10 after initially packaging ZoL for Ubuntu years ago and supporting it in the server space. One of the big changes for Ubuntu 19.10 expected is an experimental ZFS root file-system install option for their desktop GUI installer. That's been confirmed today by Canonical along with some of their related ZoL activities.

Canonical's Didier Roche wrote a blog post today on the official Ubuntu Blog about their ZFS support intentions for Ubuntu 19.10. He also reaffirmed their belief going back years that they are acting within the rights granted and in compliance with the CDDL and GPL for being able to offer ZFS On Linux support within their kernel package as a built-in kernel module.

With the Ubuntu 19.10 desktop they are aiming to offer ZFS on root support as an experimental option. Over the coming release cycles they plan to better enhance that ZFS on Linux root file-system support.

Currently for Ubuntu 19.10 Eoan Ermine they have ZFS On Linux 0.8.1, they have back-ported some upstream fixes, and they are also working on GRUB boot-loader integration. They are also doing a lot of interesting work with their Zsys client/daemon.

More details on their ZFS plans via this blog post.