[sclug] (Reiser)

[David Given]

Dickon Hood wrote:
[...]
> No.  It isn't.  Good filesystems should *never* lose data, and should
> certainly never utterly screw themselves when running the recovery tool
> over them when the filesystem happens to contain a file containing a
> filesystem image.  ReiserFS will do this.  This is a fundamental failure.

I disagree.

Firstly, it only does this if you run fsck with the --rebuild-tree
option, which *explicitly states* that it goes through the entire file
system scavenging for data. And fsck gives you a massive warning full of
asterisks, which it requires you to confirm, before it goes ahead. This
is a tool for use only in extreme emergencies only. It's not something
you use in normal circumstances.

Secondly, --rebuild-tree will (okay, should) never lose data. It may
find data that it shouldn't have and splice any contained file systems
into the main one, but it won't actually destroy anything; since the
only reason for doing this is as part of a data recovery operation when
all else fails, and the file system is never going to see active service
again, I don't see this as a problem. You're going to have to vet
everything manually anyway.

Thirdly, as a matter of philosophy I'd much prefer my file system tools
to be *over* zealous than *under* zealous! (In fact, I'd really like
such a tool to be available for JFS, my file system of choice ---
although for my next installation I may switch to XFS; turns out you
can't shrink JFS volumes.) The --rebuild-tree option is only there as a
second last resort. The last resort, of course, being to grope though
the disk image with a hex editor...

-- 
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? "I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my
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? how to use my telephone." --- Bjarne Stroustrup

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