Arch Linux

syms

Member

Registered: 2008-12-25

Posts: 296

One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

hi,
i want to download newest arch linux version. i heard i can select file system type as ext4, that sounds cool, because i really want ext4. anyway i heard that you need grub2 to properly boot ext4 arch system. so is grub2 will be included in arch linux 09.02? because my root partition is going to be in ext4 file system. thanks for help

Wintervenom

Member

Registered: 2008-08-20

Posts: 1,011

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

I'm not sure if its on the CD, but it is in the repos.  You could create am [iu]ext2 [i]/boot partition so that you can use the current GRUB, however.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Both Arch versions of grub support ext4.

ebano

Member

From: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Registered: 2009-02-25

Posts: 14

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Grub2 isn't ready for general  purposes yet, so i don't recommend it to you. curret version of grub supports ext4 already so you don't need to worry about it.

I'm on ext4 since the debut of kernel 2.6.28 in the repos, but I'm eager to put my hands into kernel 2.6.29 and its online defrag, so i can take full advantage from ext4.

Still you should use an ext2 partition to /boot.

Last edited by ebano (2009-03-05 18:05:09)

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Inxsible

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From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Just to clarify that grub does not support ext4 -- but the grub that is in the Arch repos has been patched to support ext4.

So you can use it for ext4 partitions as well. With newer file systems becoming faster and faster, it is quite unnecessary to have a separate /boot partition.

Grub2 is not yet ready for general use.

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syms

Member

Registered: 2008-12-25

Posts: 296

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Thanks for help. i have one more question - how much ext4 seems faster than ext3? i mean do you feel that ext4 is faster than ext3 in most cases? thanks.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Thanks for help. i have one more question - how much ext4 seems faster than ext3? i mean do you feel that ext4 is faster than ext3 in most cases? thanks.

I've never done any benchmarks, but I can tell you that file system checks are many, many times faster.

I do have a warning though, and it can be confirmed by others in this forum: ext4 does not crash gracefully right now. If you're on an unstable system, crashing can cause the loss of at least configuration files. My workstation is rock solid, so I've never seen any issues. Another computer that I was working on was having crashes due to an older Intel card with the newer xorg, and configuration files were being killed all over the place.

perbh

Member

From: Republic of Texas

Registered: 2005-03-04

Posts: 765

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

@Inxsible:
What has the speed of a filesystem got to do with whether or not you use a seperate /boot filesystem??

I _always_ have a seperate boot-partition (and I didn't say /boot on purpose). If you do any kind of multibooting at all, there is nothing to beat a seperate boot partition. I don't even mount mine unless I need to update it. Each distro has its /boot under the root filesystem which it quite happily updates, first then do I mount my boot partition and copy from /boot.

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

@Inxsible:
What has the speed of a filesystem got to do with whether or not you use a seperate /boot filesystem??

What I meant to say was that the newer filesystems have faster fscking and such which was a little painful in the earlier filesystems. sorry I wasn't clear earlier.

having a separate boot has many other uses. You mentioned one, the other is that you can have a different filesystem if you want. I currently have a ext2 boot partition and ext4 on my home drive and root. I don't think there is any need for journaling and extents on the boot partition.

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syms

Member

Registered: 2008-12-25

Posts: 296

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Thanks for help. i have one more question - how much ext4 seems faster than ext3? i mean do you feel that ext4 is faster than ext3 in most cases? thanks.

I've never done any benchmarks, but I can tell you that file system checks are many, many times faster.

I do have a warning though, and it can be confirmed by others in this forum: ext4 does not crash gracefully right now. If you're on an unstable system, crashing can cause the loss of at least configuration files. My workstation is rock solid, so I've never seen any issues. Another computer that I was working on was having crashes due to an older Intel card with the newer xorg, and configuration files were being killed all over the place.

Thanks. another thing is that about application start up. for example for me firefox starts in 4 seconds, when i close ff and try to run it again, it opens in about 1 second. what it would with ext4 system? maybe it would launch in 2 seconds at first start?

xaff

Member

Registered: 2009-02-26

Posts: 64

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Thanks for help. i have one more question - how much ext4 seems faster than ext3? i mean do you feel that ext4 is faster than ext3 in most cases? thanks.

I've never done any benchmarks, but I can tell you that file system checks are many, many times faster.

I do have a warning though, and it can be confirmed by others in this forum: ext4 does not crash gracefully right now. If you're on an unstable system, crashing can cause the loss of at least configuration files. My workstation is rock solid, so I've never seen any issues. Another computer that I was working on was having crashes due to an older Intel card with the newer xorg, and configuration files were being killed all over the place.

Thanks. another thing is that about application start up. for example for me firefox starts in 4 seconds, when i close ff and try to run it again, it opens in about 1 second. what it would with ext4 system? maybe it would launch in 2 seconds at first start?

It's hard to guess like that, but it's bound to be the same or faster. You're not losing anything going ext4 and it is a faster filesystem in general.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: One question about arch linux 2009.02 and ext4

Thanks. another thing is that about application start up. for example for me firefox starts in 4 seconds, when i close ff and try to run it again, it opens in about 1 second. what it would with ext4 system? maybe it would launch in 2 seconds at first start?

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe that FF slow startup isn't due as much to disk speed (which only helps, of course) as it is to initialization of resources. Firefox does a lot, and because of that, it requires a lot.