Kent Overstreet, the creator of bcachefs, discusses the development and features of the new Linux file system. They address challenges, compare it to other file systems, and explore practical applications. They also talk about optimizing disk writing, enhancing security, and the challenges of working on the kernel. The chapter concludes with a discussion on a postal code puzzle in Leeds, England.
BCACH FS aims to achieve the feature set and reliability of ZFS while maintaining the scalability and speed of XFS.
BCACH FS has been tested with database workloads and is designed to scale and handle technologies like snapshots and compression effectively.
The release of BCACH FS in Linux 6.7 brings a competitive file system with features comparable to those in iPhone and Windows XP.
Deep dives
BCASH.S and the Challenge of Fast Indexing
The speaker discusses the challenges faced when trying to produce a B-tree that is fast enough for indexing all block IOs, and introduces the concept of IITsinger arrays as a solution.
BCASH FS: A New File System with Potential
The podcast hosts discuss the release of BCASH FS in Linux 6.7 and its potential to be a competitive file system with features comparable to those in iPhone and Windows XP. They explore the need for a robust and modern file system in Linux, highlighting BCASH FS's feature set and scalability.
Focus on Performance and Scalability in BCASH FS
Kent Overstreet, the creator of BCASH FS, shares insights on its goals of achieving the feature set and reliability of ZFS while maintaining the scalability and speed of XFS. He also discusses challenges faced when migrating to the kernel, funding prospects, and potential interactions with other file systems like NixOS.
BCASH FS Workloads and Testing
Kent mentions that BCASH FS has been tested with database workloads and is designed to scale and handle technologies like snapshots and compression effectively. He also highlights the ongoing development and future plans for features like send-receive and erasure coding.
Support and Appreciation for BCASH FS
Listeners and boosters show their support and appreciation for BCASH FS, with suggestions for topics to cover and gratitude for the membership discount code. They also share their experiences with Linux and personal connections to file systems like Winamp and Yellow Dog Linux.
Kent Overstreet, the creator of bcachefs, helps us understand where his new filesystem fits, what it's like to upstream a new filesystem, and how they've solved the RAID write hole.
bcachefs — bcachefs is an advanced new filesystem for Linux, with an emphasis on reliability and robustness and the complete set of features one would expect from a modern filesystem.
bcachefs Erasure coding — Bcachefs takes advantage of the fact that it is already a copy-on-write filesystem. If we're designing our filesystem to avoid update-in-place, why would we do update-in-place in our RAID implementation?
bcachefs Caching — bcachefs can be configured for writethrough, writeback, and writearound caching, as well as other more specialized setups.
bachefs Compression — Unlike other filesystems that typically do compression at the block level, bcachefs does compression at the extent level - variable size chunks, up to (by default) 128k.
bcachefs Encryption — bcachefs uses AEAD style encryption (ChaCha20/Poly1305), where each encrypted block is authenticated with a MAC, with a chain of trust up to root (the superblock), and every encrypted block has a unique nonce.
(2015) [ANNOUNCE] bcachefs - a general purpose COW filesystem — It's taken a long time to get to this point - longer than I would have guessed if you'd asked me back when we first started talking about it - but I'm pretty damn proud of where it's at now.