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Linux kernel edges closer to dropping ReiserFS
With developer in prison, it only seems just
Linux kernel developer Matthew Wilcox has proposed removing ReiserFS from the Linux kernel – a relatively rare step.
This isn't due to a problem or bug in ReiserFS: it still works fine and has plenty of features. The problem was that ReiserFS code in the kernel used some API calls that nothing else did, preventing them from being changed or enhanced. For now, one of the other ReiserFS developers has contributed a patch that removes the issue.
ReiserFS has been stuck on version 3 for some fifteen years, and although there are proposals for Reiser4 and even Reiser5, development is not moving forward because its chief architect is still in prison for murdering his wife.
Partly due to this lack of advancement, ReiserFS is no longer widely used. One of its main proponents, SUSE, switched to ext3, leading to debates about its future as long ago as 2008. Now, SUSE kernel developer Jan Kara is not opposing Wilcox's idea, just proposing a slower route.
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Reiser initially maintained his innocence, then changed his plea, confessed, and led police to his wife's body. The result of his confession was his sentence being reduced from a minimum of 25 years to 15, meaning that he may soon be eligible for parole. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
