@mailinglists35 
> if i understand correctly, this feature requires enabling a feature flag thus 
> irreversibly changing the on-disk format

Yes, the on-disk format changes (and the feature property changes to `active`) 
when `zpool remove` is used to remove a top-level device (which is only allowed 
if the feature flag is `enabled`)

> can the feature be shipped also separate as a zdb feature for an exported 
> pool, without needing to upgrade the pool, so a production non-patched pool 
> can benefit the feature without having to touch the production zfs code and 
> existing pool on-disk format?

No, software that doesn't understand device removal has no hope of ever reading 
a pool with removed devices.  This applies regardless of whether you were to 
use zdb, zhack, or the kernel to change the on-disk format.

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