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#1 2005-03-30 09:55:14

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
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Reiser4 is great + howto

I decided that I needed to try Reiser4 tonight. I followed [url=]the Wiki on it[/url] and was able to get it working just fine, but thought a few things in the Wiki could be improved.

First off, I used the -cko patchset to get Reiser4 support since I use it for desktop use anyways. In the end, it's up you what patches/patchset you want to use. I like -cko because I've found it to be really stable with a bit of a performance boost.
!! Note: !! The "CONFIG_REISER4_LARGE_KEY=y" kernel option is no longer valid as of 2.6.11, only "CONFIG_REISER4_FS=y" is available.

All of the necessary tools (libaal, reiser4progs) are in the neotuli repository:

[neotuli]
Server = ftp://pkg.neotuli.net/pub/mirror/arch/neotuli

Reiser4progs is out of date (current version is 1.0.4, not 1.0.3). Also, the current GRUB patch has been updated as of 2/20/05 and GRUB is now at version 0.96.

I decided to write a little script for copying the system directories since it takes a long time and they have to be done seperately. It's recommended to use makedev (pacman -S makedev) to create the proper static nodes in /dev. I included a comment on how to do this in the script.

#!/bin/bash
#################################################### 
# This script is to copy the directory contents    #
# from one Arch installation to another. I created #
# it to move my Arch installation to Reiser4.      #
#                                                  #
# Usage:                                           #
#    moveto [new root directory]                   #
####################################################

cd $1

echo -n "Making /dev /sys /proc..."
mkdir dev
mkdir sys
mkdir proc
echo "done."

echo -n "Copying /etc..."
cp -a /etc .
echo "done."

echo -n "Copying /bin..."
cp -a /bin .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /var..."
cp -a /var .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /usr..."
cp -a /usr .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /lib..."
cp -a /lib .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /root..."
cp -a /root .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /tmp..."
cp -a /tmp .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /sbin..."
cp -a /sbin .
echo "done.

echo -n "Copying /opt..."
cp -a /opt .
echo "done.

echo "Now would be a good time to create the initial device"
echo "nodes in the new /dev."
echo " "
echo "To do this, run the following"
echo "commands:"
echo " "
echo "chroot $1 /bin/bash"
echo "MAKEDEV null console zero"
echo "exit"
echo " "
echo " "
echo "Make sure to edit the lilo or GRUB menu and /etc/fstab"
echo "to make the transferred installation work. :)"

Hopefully it works as well for you as it did for me. smile Reiser4 rocks.


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#2 2005-03-30 11:30:02

zeppelin
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From: Athens, Greece
Registered: 2004-03-05
Posts: 807
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

when you say reiserfs4 rocks, what do you mean?
Did you become faster? I would like to use it but I don't have a hd to backup and I think that copying on vfat will *break* symlinks etc

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#3 2005-03-30 16:16:49

luisfelipe
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Registered: 2004-05-06
Posts: 96

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

From what I've heard reiser4 was supposed to be excellent when messing around with lots of small files. But I also heard you get some lockups when it rebalances it's trees.

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#4 2005-03-30 18:28:41

miqorz
Member
Registered: 2004-12-31
Posts: 475

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

Reiser4 brings alot to the table. Unfortunately it may break the table.

Reiser isn't supported in the default kernel yet for good reason.
Anyone on a normal desktop can safely use ext3 for a -long- time to come.


http://wiki2.archlinux.org/

Read it. Love it. Live it. Or die.

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#5 2005-03-30 19:21:51

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

It's definately faster compared to ResierFS. I haven't done any solid benchmarks, but my startup time is a few seconds shorter and programs appear to start a bit quicker. Since most of my computer is small files (music + images + web files, I'm a graphic/web designer) I've always used ReiserFS.

I left my /boot partition on another hard drive, I formatted my Windows drive to use Reiser4. tongue


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#6 2005-03-30 21:12:33

Gullible Jones
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Registered: 2004-12-29
Posts: 4,863

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

For now, I'll stay with ReiserFS 3.6... Quite fast enough for me.

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#7 2005-04-10 20:53:46

lucke
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From: Poland
Registered: 2004-11-30
Posts: 4,018

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

Guys, is it normal that my ca. 4.9 gb partition has 4.9 gb usable space with reiserfs and "only" 4.7 gb with reiser4?

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#8 2005-04-10 22:07:11

IceRAM
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From: Bucharest, Romania
Registered: 2004-03-04
Posts: 772
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

lucke wrote:

Guys, is it normal that my ca. 4.9 gb partition has 4.9 gb usable space with reiserfs and "only" 4.7 gb with reiser4?

Note that, during my recent rebuild of the HDD partitions (old HDD lost some partitions - long story), I've discovered an empty Reiser3 partition has 33MB occupied (it happened to have 20GB, but not only with that - I can't remember the sizes of others).

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#9 2005-04-11 01:21:01

neotuli
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From: London, UK
Registered: 2004-07-06
Posts: 1,204
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

By the way, the stuff in my repo is up to date nowadays smile


The suggestion box only accepts patches.

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#10 2005-04-11 07:08:18

dtw
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From: UK
Registered: 2004-08-03
Posts: 4,439
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

i found that pacman is about 5 times faster when /var is on a reiser4 part - like lightening

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#11 2005-04-11 12:33:21

d3c3it
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From: Manchester, UK
Registered: 2003-09-10
Posts: 112
Website

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

i'd try it on a non root partition but i dont trust it yet for /. If the main kernel developers dont trust it enough for that job ill follow there lead smile


"Covered in blood, Cant understand" - Biffy Clyro

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#12 2005-04-11 13:53:58

iphitus
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From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

I use reiser4 and I can only agree with the aforementioned.

It is faster. Even switching to it, when i booted up reiser4 the first time.... whoa that was quick! Pacman is faster too like dtw said.

iphitus

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#13 2005-04-11 23:05:29

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

I completely forgot about this thread.

I've been using Resier4 now for over 2 weeks and it's been stable as a rock. Like Dribble mentioned, pacman IS faster, and I've noticed that Unreal Tournament loads and runs much faster. Basically anything loads, moves, or reads lots of small (under ~100Mb) runs much faster.


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#14 2005-04-25 07:16:00

iBertus
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From: Greenville, NC
Registered: 2004-11-04
Posts: 2,228

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

just switched my entire system over to reiser4. every partition is now reiser4 except /boot which is ext2. i'll update in a few days and let everyone know how it's going. i do plenty of gaming and such so i expect that i should have some good comparisons to report.

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#15 2005-04-26 03:11:50

dtw
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From: UK
Registered: 2004-08-03
Posts: 4,439
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

shadowhand wrote:

Like Dribble mentioned

i warned you once, this is twice - next time the only warning you will get is a hand on the shoulder in a dark alley or the tinkling of glass in the dead of night...

lol

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#16 2005-04-26 04:33:03

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
Website

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

dibblethewrecker wrote:
shadowhand wrote:

Like Dribble mentioned

i warned you once, this is twice - next time the only warning you will get is a hand on the shoulder in a dark alley or the tinkling of glass in the dead of night...

lol

That's an old post. Maybe if your name didn't LOOK like dribble I wouldn't say dribble. C'mon now, what were you thinking when you picked that name? lol (Only joking, all in good fun. What are you doing, searching the forums for "Dribble" and finding every post I screwed up in? :shock: 8) )


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#17 2005-04-26 08:27:31

dtw
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From: UK
Registered: 2004-08-03
Posts: 4,439
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

Now THAT'S a good idea lol

It was my nick name when i was a kid! wink

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#18 2005-04-26 10:35:53

aikidoist72
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2005-04-15
Posts: 63

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

Hey Dibble,

My last name is Cox and my nickname was ¨Itchy¨. I reakon there is a song in that!! wink

I have been thinking of updating my ext3 partitions to Reiser but what is gained by doing it.  I have a P4  2.4 Ghz, which runs like lightening so speed is not an issue for me.


Sitting quietly
Doing nothing
The grass grows
And the flowers bloom
All by themselves

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#19 2005-04-26 20:07:29

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
Website

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

aikidoist72 wrote:

My last name is Cox and my nickname was ¨Itchy¨. I reakon there is a song in that!! wink

Bummer. tongue

Moving from Ext3 to Reiser4? You will notice a difference when doing anything with large amounts (20 or more) of small files (<1-100MB).


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#20 2005-04-27 11:07:11

Moo-Crumpus
Member
From: Hessen / Germany
Registered: 2003-12-01
Posts: 1,487

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

still prefer jfs. rock solid and really fast.


Frumpus addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]

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#21 2005-04-27 19:31:45

iBertus
Member
From: Greenville, NC
Registered: 2004-11-04
Posts: 2,228

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

so far in switching from reiser3 to 4 i can't really tell a difference. maybe i'm just not doing to correct sort of tasks or the difference between the two is just very small.

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#22 2005-04-27 19:46:35

shadowhand
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From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
Website

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

I used to use Reiser3 as well and the difference is minimal, but once you start doing things with about 100+Mb of small files (try moving 10Gb of files from a Reiser4 to Reiser4 partition, and compare it to Reiser3 times) you should notice a difference.

It's been rock solid for me too.


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#23 2005-04-30 03:51:59

iBertus
Member
From: Greenville, NC
Registered: 2004-11-04
Posts: 2,228

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

i've installed a few more programs now and do notice that pacman and some game installers (nwn, ut2004) finish faster than with reiser3. overall, it's a good boost. also it seems that the disk space is managed better with reiser4. less usage for the same amount of stuff (~1%).

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#24 2005-05-10 04:49:16

vipernicus
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From: IT Dept
Registered: 2005-05-10
Posts: 54
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Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

Reiser4 isn't all that great, you'd get better overall performance and *STABILITY* with ext3 with dir_index and journal_data turned on.  This is not a default ext3 option, you have to set it yourself.

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#25 2005-05-10 08:38:53

shadowhand
Member
From: MN, USA
Registered: 2004-02-19
Posts: 1,142
Website

Re: Reiser4 is great + howto

vipernicus wrote:

Reiser4 isn't all that great, you'd get better overall performance and *STABILITY* with ext3 with dir_index and journal_data turned on.  This is not a default ext3 option, you have to set it yourself.

Your first post, and you come to troll?  :evil:  roll

I've been using Reiser4 for well over a month now, my computer is constantly running, and I reboot to test various things for the Archie project every 2-10 days. I've never locked up, never had a crash, and, as far as I can tell, not a single glitch with Reiser4.

In case you missed all of Hans' info about Reiser4, he released it when it WAS STABLE, not as a beta.

Please, next time, read and don't post if you are just going to troll. Ext3 works for some people, and Reiser works for some people. You can go look at the benchmarks as well, then post something a bit more researched.


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