On Fri, 2019-04-12 at 12:43 -0400, Dan Ritter wrote: > Tom Browder wrote: > > I have used ext4 for many years while I have been watching zfs and > > btrfs being developed. I am now considering using one or both on at > > least one partion during my upcoming new Debian installation. > > > > Can anyone recommend either one for a normal (non-developer, > > non-hobbyiest) user who does backups and values his data and wants > > reasonable reliability? > > If you want to experiment, having root on ext4 and /home on ZFS > is pretty easy to accomplish. > > ZFS for root is too difficult to recommend to a casual user > today, but I expect that to change in a version or two.
I'll second this recommendation, with two additional comments. First, there is a good set of instructions for installing with root on ZFS at https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/wiki/Debian-Stretch-Root-on-ZFS that, if followed carefully and accurately, is very likely to result in a successful install, including LUKS encryption and root on ZFS. I have been testing one such on a VM for several months and plan shortly install on an old (2011) Apple Macbook. My only deviations were to omit encryption and to use Buster, rather than Stretch, as the target. I think at the time I did it that may have given me a later version of ZFS, and it was clear that Buster would become the new stable version around the time I wanted to use ZFS for real. The install process described there is straightforward, and it includes the steps needed if you want to encrypt the file systemsbut very much hands on. I don't think I would call it difficult as much as requiring careful attention to detail while carrying out a fairly lengthy procedure. It is possible to cut and paste many of the commands, but they must be edited carefully for the target environment. If you have a new and untouched machine, it would be an excellent opportunity to try this without really risking anything but time and maybe frustration. Second, ZFS comes with a significant learning curve and differs a bit from more traditional and common file systems used in Linuxland, including those used with LVM. LVM adds a layer to management; ZFS changes management quite a bit, although generally for the better. The Oracle documentation for their commercial ZFS, though, is available on their web site and generally usable with openzfs, although incompletely because the later features of Oracle ZFS are not available. ZFS for /home makes sense, especially for anyone not already somewhat familiar with ZFS. Regards, Tom Dial > > -dsr-