Linux 6.18 Will Further Complicate Non-GPL Out-of-Tree File-Systems
8 months ago
- #Linux
- #GPL
- #File-Systems
- Linux 6.18 will remove 'write_cache_pages', causing issues for non-GPL out-of-tree file-systems.
- The removal affects file-systems like OpenZFS, which rely on 'write_cache_pages' for writing dirty data from the page cache.
- NTFS3 and Bcachefs, in-tree users of the iterator, have already been moved off 'write_cache_pages'.
- The patch by Christoph Hellwig removes 'write_cache_pages' since there are no longer any in-tree users.
- Out-of-tree non-GPL file-systems may face performance issues or need workarounds to write dirty pages.
- A Phoronix reader highlighted the challenges, noting potential major layer violations and performance impacts.
- The stable Linux 6.18 kernel is expected to be released in December.