October 26, 2026 at 4:16 PM, "Alperen Erkan" <[email protected] mailto:[email protected]?to=%22Alperen%20Erkan%22%20%3Cerkanalperen54%40gmail.com%3E > wrote:
> > Hello > > > I follow OpenBSD development for fun, and there is an interesting new > > filesystem proposal: > > good enough fs (gefs), which is a "crash-safe, snapshotting, copy on write > > FS". It might > > become the default filesystem on Plan9. The developer uses his gefs to > > create a snapshot > > every 5 mintues, which seems pretty cool. > > Interesting. > > > Apparently it's 9,000 lines of C code in the kernel. The license is MIT. > >Maybe a port to > > the Hurd would be worthwhile ? > > Before considering a possible port to GNU Hurd, I would like to raise a few > technical questions: > > Integration with Hurd: Would implementing GEFS as a userspace filesystem > server using Hurd's existing interfaces be the most practical approach? Are > there any architectural limitations we should consider? > > Bε-tree performance: Since GEFS relies on buffered tree operations, how might > Hurd's IPC overhead affect its performance, particularly under > metadata-intensive workloads? > > Crash consistency: What guarantees would the underlying storage interface > need to provide to preserve GEFS's copy-on-write consistency model across > crashes? > > Snapshot management: Are there any known limitations in GEFS's > generation-based block reclamation and deadlist mechanism that could > complicate its integration with Hurd? > > Portability: Would it be more reasonable to isolate GEFS's storage engine > from its Plan 9-specific interfaces before attempting a Hurd port? > > I think these questions could help determine whether GEFS is a suitable > candidate for an experimental Hurd filesystem. > > I have many more questions, but I wanted to start by asking these 5 > fundamental ones. > > I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts. > > Best regards, > Alperen Erkan I'm just forwarding your email to bug-hurd. Let's keep the discussion on the mailing list eh? And I really do not have any answers to your questions. I'm not a Hurd developer. :( Maybe is some ways ext3/4 is better that gefs. Though I don't think ext3/4 has snapshots... Joshua > On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 9:56 PM jbranso--- via Bug reports for the GNU Hurd > <[email protected] mailto:[email protected] > wrote: > > > > > Hey Hurd people! > > > > I follow OpenBSD development for fun, and there is an interesting new > > filesystem proposal: > > good enough fs (gefs), which is a "crash-safe, snapshotting, copy on write > > FS". It might > > become the default filesystem on Plan9. The developer uses his gefs to > > create a snapshot > > every 5 mintues, which seems pretty cool. > > > > Apparently it's 9,000 lines of C code in the kernel. The license is MIT. > > Maybe a port to > > the Hurd would be worthwhile ? > > > > https://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article;sid=20260918115729 > > > > the gefs paper is here: https://orib.dev/gefs.pdf > > > > Thanks, > > > > Joshua > > >
