Motivation
Linux has a plethora of file systems, seemingly enough variety and
choice to satisfy anyone. However, the majority of these file systems
were developed outside the Linux community and never attracted a
significant community support base; these file systems are often
"thrown over the fence" and sometimes abandoned by their original
creators. For example, JFS has been end-of-lifed by IBM, XFS is
supported mainly by SGI, and the future of Reiserfs is uncertain.
The only viable file system in terms of long-term support is ext3. However, ext3 has hard limits on its longevity - most notably a limit of 8-32 TB on file system size, already too small for a significant number of Linux users. A straight-forward extension of the ext2/3 on-disk format beyond 32-bit block addresses does not solve higher-level scalability issues, such as file system repair time and existing journal-related performance limitations. In addition, fundamental hardware changes (track buffers, write caches, growing random vs. sequential bandwidth ratio) have invalidated many design assumptions. In short, Linux file systems are rapidly approaching a crisis point.
Linux needs a community supported file system which can grow into the next decade. Incremental improvements on existing file systems are unlikely to fill this gap. This workshop is the first step in designing and implementing a new file system to fill the needs of the Linux community in the coming years. Participants will have the opportunity to shape the design and implementation of the next generation of Linux file systems.
Getting the most out of your workshop
The short version is:
Topics
Topics for discussion include but are not limited to:
Each day will have a different theme. Themes:
Thursday: Data - Hardware trends, known problems
Friday: Wild ideas - Discuss crazy new design notions
Saturday: Weeding out - Narrow down candidates, plan future work
Tentative schedule:
| Wednesday, June 14th | |
|---|---|
| 7:00pm | Meet at Days Inn lobby for dinner, sponsored by Intel |
| Thursday, June 15th | |
| 9:00am | Breakfast served in workshop room, sponsored by Intel |
| 10:00am | Opening remarks, workshop goals |
| 10:30am | Presentation/discussion: Recent trends in hardware |
| 11:15am | Presentation/discussion: Review of existing fs techniques |
| 12:00pm | Lunch served in workshop room, sponsored by Intel |
| 2:00pm | Open discussion, break up into groups |
| 5:30pm | Break |
| 6:30pm | Meet at Days Inn lobby for dinner, sponsored by Google |
| After dinner | Plan next day's talks while at restaurant |
| Friday, June 16th | |
| 9:00am | Breakfast served in workshop room, sponsored by Intel |
| 10:00am | Presentations/discussions: To be determined |
| 12:00pm | Lunch served in workshop room, sponsored by Intel |
| 2:00pm | Open discussion, break up into groups |
| 5:30pm | Break |
| 6:30pm | Meet at Days Inn lobby for dinner, sponsored by Oracle |
| Saturday, June 17th | |
| 10:00am | Wrap up, figure out next steps |
| 12:00pm | Workshop finished! Take a break! |
| 3:00pm | Meet at Days Inn to carpool to Linux Beer Summit (optional) |
Only the first day's talks will be planned in advance; the second day's will be planned during the evening sessions and given by workshop participants. Slideware other than high-density graphical information is discouraged.
We strongly encourage participants to remain in Portland until Sunday afternoon, as other Linux-related activities will be occurring in the Portland area during the weekend. Contact the organizers for details.
Location
The workshop will be held in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon,
in conference space courtesy of Oracle. It is located within easy
walking distance of hotels, fine restaurants, brew pubs, museums, and
a large portion of the Linux developer community. Portland weather in
June is usually mild and sunny.
The workshop will be at the Oracle office:
1211 SW 5th Ave
Suite 800
Portland, OR 97204
Main Phone: 503.228.1520
Contact the Organizers
Questions? Contact:
val_henson at linux dot intel dot com