ZFS on Linux is "ready for wide scale deployment"

Developer Brian Behlendorf has announced the release of version 0.6.1 of the native ZFS on Linux port. After over two years in experimental status, the developers now say the file system "is ready for wide scale deployment on everything from desktops to super computers." The native ZFS on Linux is based on the Solaris Porting Layer (SPL) which emulates underlying features of Solaris in the Linux kernel.

In contrast to the FUSE (Filesystem in USErspace) implementation of ZFS, the native port delivers better performance by implementing the filesystem as a kernel module. Aside from a number of bug fixes, ZFS on Linux 0.6.1 includes a new snapdev property that controls the visibility of zvol snapshot devices. ZFS on Linux is now also compatible with the in-development Linux 3.9 and adds further man pages.

The developers say they have provided new repositories for Debian, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (which is also works with compatible distributions such as CentOS) to make the installation of the software easier. Repositories for Ubuntu, Arch Linux and several other distributions are also available. Users can also download the source code for self-compilation from GitHub. ZFS on Linux is licensed under a combination of GPLv2 (for the Solaris Porting Layer) and the CDDL (for the ZFS system); the ZFS on Linux FAQ addresses the issues around ZFS's licensing.

(fab)