If Gentoo can die off, ReiserFS is doomed (was Re: Reiser FS or ext3?)

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Fri, 9/26/08, Jeffrey Watts <jeffrey.w.watts at gmail.com> wrote:

> ReiserFS is a filesystem.  SuSE supports ReiserFS.  

As a secondary option only, and they were paying Hans Reiser's now nearly-defunct company Namesys to support ReiserFS for them (at Hans Reiser's insistence).

> Just because Hans Reiser is in jail doesn't mean 
> his filesystem will start losing data or murdering
> russians.  Last I looked, it should continue to 
> work just as before.

Reiser3 was already having a lot of problems, and Reiser4 was still vaporware:

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2006-09/msg00542.html

> SuSE, as the _distribution_,  will continue to maintain 
> ReiserFS as best it can.

Actually they haven't been supporting ReiserFS.  They've been paying Reiser's company, Namesys, for ReiserFS support, but with Hans Reiser in prison (thanks to all the "gossipy details"), thats ended.

Of course, the main point should be that SuSE has been backing away from ReiserFS since before the "gossipy details", switching to Ext3 as its default filesystem about two years ago:

October 12, 2006 5:30 PM PDT
Novell makes file storage software shift
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News

"Novell is changing the file system software used by default in its Suse Linux operating system, aligning with rival Red Hat and moving away from a project whose future has become entangled with the fate of a murder suspect."

http://news.cnet.com/Novell-makes-file-storage-software-shift/2100-1016_3-6125509.html

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/53pomq

> However, my point to you is that the sordid details 
> have very little to do with a _technical decision_ 
> as to which filesystem to use. 

I will continue to think that limiting the descriptive language to the vague phrase  "incarceration of the lead developer" is about as inadequate as saying that the current tendency to "lie down on his back a lot" will prevent comic George Carlin from doing any more shows.  The details *matter*.

> > "The most interesting thing about the current
> > state of gentoo is that it's a very clear (and 
> > well documented) example of how the success of 
> > a large open source project, regardless of the 
> > personal devotion of its user base, is tightly 
> > coupled to the strength of its leadership.