Would you recommend Reiser4?

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:49 am Post subject:

I'll go on a travel right now so only a few lines:

which baselayout are you using ? baselayout-2.0.0_rc ? baselayout-1.2* ?
which arch stable / unstable ?

are you mounting/launching your root partition with "ro" from within grub ?

that's all for now ...

Bye
kernelOfTruth
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Hardcore Gentoo Linux user since 2004

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernelofTruth,

Stable x86 Gentoo install using 2007.0 desktop profile. Using grub to boot into both Slackware & Gentoo. /boot/grub installed into sda8 backup partition formatted ext3 with 128-byte inodes.

My menu.lst file:

color light-gray/blue black/light-gray

timeout 3
default 0

title Slackware
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 vga=773 ro

title Gentoo
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot2/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 vga=773 ro

Note: grub is embedded into the sda8 partition. A copy of the rootsector from this partition is in C:\ of a Vista install.

Simple steps to cause error:

1. Boot into Gentoo conventionally. Everything is fine. Reboot.
2. Boot into Slackware.
3. Open a console and chroot into Gentoo as follows:
a. mount /dev/sda7 /sda7
b mount -t proc none /sda7/proc (in order to have an internet connection)
c. chroot /sda7 /bin/bash
d. env-update && source /etc/profile
e. emerge --sync
f. emerge -uD world
g. after emerge is complete and Gentoo is updated exit chroot environment
4. umount /sda7/proc /sda7
5. reboot into Gentoo, and voila segfault on various .sh files (not the same script each time)
6. reboot again into Gentoo and everything is fine once again. Absolutely no issues with emerging, compiling, firefox use, file copying or deletions, etc.
7. if I chroot into Gentoo, but do not do any extensive file changes that syncing the portage tree does, then the segfault does not occur upon reboot into Gentoo
8. Important Note: if I emerge --sync && emerge -uD world while booted into Gentoo, no issues occur. It is only when this operation is done while chrooted from another linux operating system.

Again, this highly reproducible. I have the newest kernels and patches and formatting is with reiser4progs-1.0.6. I know this is not a "show-stopper", but nonetheless I believe it is a bug.

Thanks for your time and assistance,
Gary

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject:

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernel of truth,

my fstab: /dev/sda7 / reiser4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0 1

Synced before I umounted /sda7/proc & sda7. Still got the segfaults.

What does the flush.scan_maxnodes=15000 do in your fstab and should I try it?

Gary

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:57 am Post subject:

for description of that option (flush.scan_maxnodes), see:
Documentation/filesystems/reiser4.txt (google cache version)

mount reiser4 with noatime,nodiratime instead of defaults,noatime,nodiratime (I don't know if that changes anything)
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Hardcore Gentoo Linux user since 2004

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernelofTruth,

removing "defaults" did not change things. Did a chrooted emerge-sync, rebooted into Gentoo and segfaults were there. Rebooted again and all is fine.

So, is a bug report in order and how would I file one?

Gary

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:41 pm Post subject:

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernelofTruth,

Thanks for all your help. Will fill the bug report after I get some sleep.

Gary

P.S. Just updated reiser4-gentoo-sources with the 2.6.24-r2 ebuild: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Reiser4_With_Gentoo-Sources#Latest_.282.6.24-r2.29

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernelofTruth,

Reiserfs mailing list just posted the bug report I filed 25 minutes ago.

I would appreciate if you would review it and let me know if I need to add more information.

Gary

P.S. Am downloading your small-gentoo_amd_64_r8.iso in preparation for the start of my 64-bit Gentoo adventures. Was told last week that my core 2 duo e4500 processors are, in fact, 64-bit. Verified that two days ago with a successful Vista x64 SP1 install. Am also going to do a BlueWhite64 (Slackware) install to replace my Slackware12 32-bit install. (Still run a virtual Slackware12 from within Vista)

Thanks again.

SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

kernelofTruth,

Edward posted a reply for my reiser4-chroot-segfault problem and suggested I try to capture the kernel "oops"/segfaulting using a serial console. Any idea how to do this? Is this done by hooking up another computer to the segfaulted one through the serial port?

Any information or advice on how to save the screen output would be most appreciated.

Gary

dusanc · Apprentice Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: Serbia

Maybe just capture it with the camera

keenblade · Veteran Joined: 03 Oct 2004 Posts: 1087

creidiki · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:33 am Post subject:

Firewire consoles ftw

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SlackwareInAZ · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 92

Thanks keenblade, but I like Dusanc's idea. What didn't I think of that?!!

Gary

P.S. Dusanc, you need to take that noob off your title. After reading all your posts you're anything but a noob!

Neo2 · Apprentice Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Posts: 224 Location: Italy

SlackwareInAZ, just a guess and reminescence from Gentoo Handbook install process. Before chrooting in the new environment shouldn't you also "mount -o bind /dev /sda7/dev" to update the device tree so that if some app needs it, it is the current device tree?
Seems like is a way you haven't tried (I haven't read the whole thread). Anyway it's just a guess (from the usual liveCD chroot), I can't really tell if that will work or if it is a step to do on every chroot, it's just something I usually do when I have to chroot

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dusanc · Apprentice Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: Serbia

unK · l33t Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 769

What is the correct way of creating reiser4 filesystem with cryptcompress?

I know I have to create it with command

kernelOfTruth · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:47 am Post subject:

unK · l33t Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 769

Ok, thank you, reiser4 with lzo1 compression seems to be very nice :)
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tatotato · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:11 am Post subject: Reiser4?

I was wondering if using reiser4 as my filesystem would be firstly, possible, and secondly, worthwhile. I read on wikipedia that it can be 10 to 15 times faster at certain tasks.

First off, would it be worthwhile?

And secondly, how would I set it up with a stage3 minimal install?
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masteroftheuniverse · Apprentice Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 259

First, I doubt that those benchmarks included the other faster filesystems, like xfs and jfs. I don't think it would be worthwhile over one of those two, considering the second point:

Reiser4, due to the issues with Hans Reiser himself, is still not integrated in the kernel. To get it up and running, you will need to patch the kernel. xfs and jfs are fully integrated in the kernel; I use xfs myself and it has never given me any problems.

tatotato · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:37 am Post subject:

Thanks for the reply.

What do you think is the best filesystem to use considering trade-offs between ease of setup and speed?
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SiberianSniper · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:49 am Post subject:

I've been using Reiser3.6 for a long time now and it's great! Although my experience with ext3 and xfs is limited, it just feels like Reiser is faster. I've also heard some great things about Reiser4, but have just been too lazy to convert and try it out myself. Plus, just because something isn't in the kernel doesn't mean it isn't the best. Look at RSDL for example... just because of stupid politics it never made it in.

But if you're interested in Resier4, you just need an install environment that supports it to actually install gentoo, and then make sure you use a kernel that also supports it. That's about it. You can also do a quick google search for more specific instructions should you choose to go that route.

tatotato · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:59 am Post subject:

From what I gather I need to either build my own kernel with Reiser4 support or obtain one somehow.

Then I need to partition the disk in Reiser4 format, then perform a stage3 install.

Does this mean I just extract the tarballs onto whatever partition I want as my root partition?
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notHerbert · Advocate Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 2228 Location: 45N 73W

I don't know reiser4, but I remember reading that it's use was discouraged in favor of a sane filesystem. I have tried reiser3.6, ext3, xfs. They are all different.
I've been using JFS for quite a while and it's my favorite one.