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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/btrfs.txt | 91 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/btrfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/btrfs.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..64087c34327f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/btrfs.txt @@ -0,0 +1,91 @@ + + BTRFS + ===== + +Btrfs is a new copy on write filesystem for Linux aimed at +implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, +repair and easy administration. Initially developed by Oracle, Btrfs +is licensed under the GPL and open for contribution from anyone. + +Linux has a wealth of filesystems to choose from, but we are facing a +number of challenges with scaling to the large storage subsystems that +are becoming common in today's data centers. Filesystems need to scale +in their ability to address and manage large storage, and also in +their ability to detect, repair and tolerate errors in the data stored +on disk. Btrfs is under heavy development, and is not suitable for +any uses other than benchmarking and review. The Btrfs disk format is +not yet finalized. + +The main Btrfs features include: + + * Extent based file storage (2^64 max file size) + * Space efficient packing of small files + * Space efficient indexed directories + * Dynamic inode allocation + * Writable snapshots + * Subvolumes (separate internal filesystem roots) + * Object level mirroring and striping + * Checksums on data and metadata (multiple algorithms available) + * Compression + * Integrated multiple device support, with several raid algorithms + * Online filesystem check (not yet implemented) + * Very fast offline filesystem check + * Efficient incremental backup and FS mirroring (not yet implemented) + * Online filesystem defragmentation + + + + MAILING LIST + ============ + +There is a Btrfs mailing list hosted on vger.kernel.org. You can +find details on how to subscribe here: + +http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-btrfs + +Mailing list archives are available from gmane: + +http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.btrfs + + + + IRC + === + +Discussion of Btrfs also occurs on the #btrfs channel of the Freenode +IRC network. + + + + UTILITIES + ========= + +Userspace tools for creating and manipulating Btrfs file systems are +available from the git repository at the following location: + + http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/mason/btrfs-progs-unstable.git + git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mason/btrfs-progs-unstable.git + +These include the following tools: + +mkfs.btrfs: create a filesystem + +btrfsctl: control program to create snapshots and subvolumes: + + mount /dev/sda2 /mnt + btrfsctl -s new_subvol_name /mnt + btrfsctl -s snapshot_of_default /mnt/default + btrfsctl -s snapshot_of_new_subvol /mnt/new_subvol_name + btrfsctl -s snapshot_of_a_snapshot /mnt/snapshot_of_new_subvol + ls /mnt + default snapshot_of_a_snapshot snapshot_of_new_subvol + new_subvol_name snapshot_of_default + + Snapshots and subvolumes cannot be deleted right now, but you can + rm -rf all the files and directories inside them. + +btrfsck: do a limited check of the FS extent trees. + +btrfs-debug-tree: print all of the FS metadata in text form. Example: + + btrfs-debug-tree /dev/sda2 >& big_output_file |