Previously we have not been able to have ZFS support due to it being

licensed under the CDDL and the kernel under the GPL.
Sun have contributed ZFS support to GRUB under the GPL license. We

could now use that code to implement support for ZFS in the Linux

kernel.
http://blogs.sun.com/darren/entry/zfs_under_gplv2_already_exists

--

Linux needs btrfs upstream more than it needs ZFS...
	Jeff
--

Don't be so harsh.  Adding a read-only for the start zfs driver for

Linux would be useful for various purposes.  And adding read-only

filesystems to Linux is really easy.  So if Fred really cares about it

I'd be very happy to mentor him implementing it.  IT should be a very

good learning exercise for him.

--

If Fred declines, is anyone free to take you up on the offer?  I have

no filesystem experience and almost no experience with kernel code in

general, so I would not be anyone's first choice for a task like this.

 However, since it mainly appears to be an integration exercise (using

the code from GRUB and making it work in linux), it might well be

doable for me.  As a bonus, being highly inexperienced, I have no

expectations of doing anything correctly, and thus would not react

badly to lots of criticism.
So to summarize - if anyone else would like to undertake this work,

they probably should.  But if no one has the time/will, then I would

be happy to give it a try.
Thanks,

--

Kevin Winchester

--

Yes, this offer is of course up to everyone interested.  But it's not

purely an integration effort in the traditional sense, the grub

filesystem interface is quite different from the Linux one, and the code

structure and style is quite different.  But if you're willing to learn

it should be very interesting.

--

No one else seems to have volunteered, so I would certainly like to

give it a try.  I guess I need to get the ZFS grub code, create a ZFS

filesystem, and start looking around for information on linux

filesystem development and ZFS (obviously without looking at any CDDL

licensed code).
Once I get a handle on that, I'll see where I can get before I need to

ask a thousand questions.
--

Kevin Winchester

--

That's definitely the right attitude to take.  When I ported jfs to

linux, I was completely new to Linux and open source, so tried to defer

to the experienced developers whenever possible.  Christoph was a

terrific help, offering a lot of suggestions and patches.  JFS is a much

better file system because of his help.
There have been others contributing code that have not taken criticism

so well, and what started out as an offer of help turned into emotional

arguments and personal attacks.  This really hampers getting your code
Thanks for offering.  I don't know who else may be interested in this,

but good luck and thanks to you or whoever takes this up.
Thanks,

Shaggy

--

David Kleikamp

IBM Linux Technology Center
--

Why?
--

	Evgeniy Polyakov

--

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:13:55 +0200
No we can't. The GPL ZFS bits don't include the various methods that

would violate the patent so there is no grant. I've several times asked

Sun to simply give permission and they don't even answer. I can only read

the Sun motiviation one way - they want to look open but know that ZFS is

about the only thing that might save Solaris as a product in the data

centre so are not truely prepared to let Linus use it.
This is now further complicated by the fact Sun and NetApp are in

litigation so ZFS is basically "toxic" for the moment and we'd need

permission from both sets of patent holders to proceed.
Alan

--

And I have some sketches. Not yet ready to send anywhere.
--

From what I can see, it is an absolutely-minimal readonly implementation.
	-hpa

--

Which wasn't problem for NTFS, which was RO for years.
RO is still better than nothing, you can copy files from an ZFS.
Bis denn
--

Real Programmers consider "what you see is what you get" to be just as

bad a concept in Text Editors as it is in women. No, the Real Programmer

wants a "you asked for it, you got it" text editor -- complicated,

cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous.
--

There are a number of fs drivers in the kernel which provide read-only

support. The GPL-ed code might not be much (I haven't looked at it), but if

someone would spend some time to write a nice, clean patch which can be

easily improved, I think there would be at least one user out there who would

find it useful.
Of course, this could open a door for all kinds of incomplete drivers, but

these days people seem nuts about ZFS.
In second thoughts, maybe a fuse based driver would be better. :)
--

Mihai Donțu

--

I think there's already work being done for zfs on fuse

(http://www.wizy.org/wiki/ZFS_on_FUSE). Not sure how it's going, though.

--

It's good. I keep all my important files on it, without any trouble. Of

course, I keep backups

as I would with any filesystem.
--