[talk] ZFS FreeBSD future confusion?

[Isaac (.ike) Levy]

On Wed, Jun 12, 2019, at 2:01 PM, Pete Wright wrote:
> 
> 
> On 6/12/19 10:50 AM, Isaac (.ike) Levy wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Folks who know me, know me as a ZFS user/lover since Pawel first brought it in to FreeBSD.
> >
> > In a previous message to talk@, I raised that there confusion about changes in ZFS "upstream".
> >
> > Warner Losh noted this is "maybe not well publicized".  After digging around online, it sure is not well publicized- and I want to know details.  Even digging through lists, (these days- *which lists* of many?)
> >
> > ZFS:
> >
> > - What excactly are these changes?
> > - Why and how was this decided?
> > - When is ZFS upstream supposed to be changing?
> > - What are the technical pros/cons of this change?
> > - What are the license implications (Linux !!!!), and what will they be in the future (GPL3)?
> >
> > - Am I simply having a dream, nightmare perhaps?
> >
> > --
> > I'm terribly dismayed but not panicing, FreeBSD 12.x-REL is stable and fabulous, I guess if my filesystem is going to be pulled out from under me 12.x FreeBSD could become the new 4.11-REL (which I and many others ran in some contexts for a decade past EOL for *reasons*).
> >
> > Anybody have any concrete info on these ZFS changes?
> 
> apparently this talk at bsdcan this year was very helpful:
> 
> https://www.bsdcan.org/2019/schedule/events/1060.en.html
> 
> from what i've heard from Alan (via teh twitters) is that the ZFSonLinux 
> people are keen and dedicated to getting all the code under one roof via 
> OpenZFS, and are also keen to work with the freebsd and other unix 
> communities.  he's also been encouraging everyone to join the monthly(?) 
> OpenZFS calls.

Scary: sounds a wee bit tower-of-babel to me.

> 
> i too have concerns with the whole linux aspect of this, but Alan is 
> pretty vocal from what i can gather that they people working on OpenZFS 
> on the linux side are collaborative.  Time will tell though, and I think 
> the best way to make sure that ZFS doesn't end up depending on systemd 
> or other linux'isms is to participate on the calls and try to be 
> constructive if you can.

Thanks so much Pete- I'm still parsing the slides from what you sent...

Aside from trying to keep up with 40-char tweets, has *anyone* in the FreeBSD universe written up a clear public statement about the state of things- and the future plans?
(Like a plain language, coherent, paragraph or two.)

Best,
.ike




> 
> -pete
> 
> -- 
> Pete Wright
> pete at nomadlogic.org
> @nomadlogicLA
> 
>