Bug#891890: ITP: zfs-linux-git -- zfsonlinux packaging tracking git master
Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-CC: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
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Package name: zfs-linux-git
Version: 0.8~
Upstream Author: Brian Behlendorf <behlendorf1@llnl.gov>
URL: http://www.zfsonlinux.org/
License: CDDL
Description:
ZFS is an advanced file system and volume manager which was originally
developed for Solaris. It provides a number of advanced features like
snapshots, clones, live integrity checksums, deduplication, compression,
encryption, and much more. The port to the Linux kernel includes a
functional and stable SPA, DMU, ZVOL and ZFS Posix Layer (ZPL).
.
This package is a very close fork of the existing zfs-linux package
already in Debian, but aims to track git master and the ntrim2-next
patch set adding trim support by Tim Chase.
.
BEWARE: THIS VERSION OF ZFS IS EXPERIMENTAL. IT MAY EAT YOUR DATA.
Just like the parallel packaging of wine-unstable and wine, I have
packaged [1] a -git version of zfs (and spl). Actually, the version is
a rebase of a PR [2] by Tim Chase [3] to add trim/unmap support to ZFS.
This appears to be getting close to a mainline inclusion, and there has
gathered much interest. The git mainline already includes encrypted
datasets.
I am proposing adding this package to the experimental repository (as
it definitely does not meet the quality and stability requirements for
any Debian release). The exposure of these experimental features to
the broader Debian community provides a better test-bed for the
zfsonlinux mainline (and for this ntrim2-next PR especially). This
testing improves the quality of the released version, protecting
Debian users not as willing to test out the newest features
filesystems.
Moreover, because the packaging is---and will remain, to the best of my
ability---close to the released-version ZFS packaging, changes
migrating into the release version from master that require adaptations
to the Debian packaging will have already been addressed (by myself).
This should alleviate some of the demands on the already overburdened
maintainers of zfs-linux.
There are a few considerations I'd like to highlight:
1. The packages should be difficult to accidentally pull in, but
still satisfy any dependencies by third-party packages for zfs. I've
done this by changing the name, and adding both a Conflict: and
Provides: dependency on the original zfs-linux package name.
2. ZFS and SPL are relatively tightly coupled software. I have
opted for a tight release schedule, where both the ZFS and SPL
commit hashes are tracked for both ZFS and SPL packaging. This
avoids strange bugs with out-of-date SPL versions, but will
require re-releasing SPL versions for every ZFS release.
This can be adjusted if it is decided that it is important.
3. I'm tracking a not-yet-mainlined patch set, and its role is
expected to become more stable once that patch set is mainlined.
The package name anticipates this outcome.
[1] https://github.com/aerusso/pkg-zfsonlinux-git
[2] https://github.com/dweeezil/zfs/tree/ntrim2-next
[3] https://github.com/dweeezil
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