state of ReiserFS on PPC

spitzwegerich · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:12 pm Post subject: state of ReiserFS on PPC

When I installed gentoo on my iBook the first time (more than 2 years ago), the manual told me that using ReiserFS on PPC would be risky. Now I have a new harddisk in my iBook and I wonder which FS I should use. In the current gentoo PPC handbook, I do not see this warning any more.

The relevant parts of the manual are:
"possible options are ext2, ext3, reiserfs and xfs. Unless you know what you are doing, use ext3."
"ext2, ext3, ReiserFS and XFS have been found stable on the PPC architecture."
"As of kernel 2.4.18+, ReiserFS is solid and usable as both general-purpose filesystem and for extreme cases such as the creation of large filesystems, the use of many small files, very large files and directories containing tens of thousands of files."

Since in the past I saw quite some reports about broken ReiserFS partitions on PPC, I would like to hear some more opinions before I go on with ReiserFS on my iBook. Is ReiserFS really stable on PPC now?
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JoseJX · Retired Dev Joined: 28 Apr 2002 Posts: 2774

It seems fine. Pre 2.6.6 kernels had some issues, but as long as you use a recent LiveCD it should be at least as stable as on x86. ;)
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stimuli · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject:

Reiser 3 is stable.

Reiser 4 last I checked does not work, period, on PPC.

fb · l33t Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 636 Location: New Zealand

I have been using reiserfs 3 for a bit less than two years on ppc.
The only real problem I ever had was when I was living on the ~ppc
branch and some broken reiserfs tools got added to ~ppc. They were
removed in less than 12 hours. That was almost 2 years ago as well.
If you stick to ppc it should be fine.

HighOnBonsai · Apprentice Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 260

I am currently doing a test drive with Reiser 3 on my Powerbook (BTW: ~ppc) and so far I have not had any problems! Backup important data (like I did) and give it a try!

Christopher
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NewBlackDak · Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:20 am Post subject:

I just did a fresh install Monday on a 733 Quicksilver. I used reiser instead of the ext3 it had before, and the machine seems 50% faster.
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HighOnBonsai · Apprentice Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 260

spitzwegerich · Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:09 am Post subject:

Many thanks for your comments, they look very promising!

Currently I am filling some newly created Reiser-3.6 partitions. I think I will use only the stable version of reiserfstools.
_________________
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes."
-Oskar Wilde