GNU bug report logs - #40236
[PATCH] doc: Suggest Btrfs with compression instead of ext4 for root partition.

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From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: Pierre Neidhardt <mail <at> ambrevar.xyz>
Cc: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>, 40236 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Jonathan Brielmaier <jonathan.brielmaier <at> web.de>
Subject: [bug#40236] [PATCH] doc: Suggest Btrfs with compression instead of ext4 for root partition.
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 23:18:40 -0400

Hello,

Pierre Neidhardt <mail <at> ambrevar.xyz> writes:

> Jonathan Brielmaier <jonathan.brielmaier <at> web.de> writes:
>
>> No, I did run openSUSE on btrfs, there was no Guix involved at all. But
>> btrfs seemed to be the root case of all my troubles (performance,
>> hang-ups etc).

I have yet to encounter this kind of problem on the 3 Guix Systems I've
installed with root Btrfs file systems.  It's been rock stable, even
under heavy use (I have a Guix machine configured as a Jenkins slave at
work that builds Yocto projects -- it churns through GiB of files
daily).

[...]

>> Snapshots did fill up my disk.

Snapshots only fill up the disk when we use them (and leave them behind
for enough time that the content they refer to has been mostly
rewritten.

>> So maybe create a config for the OSes of tomorrow: btrfs, wireguard,
>> rust etc :P
>
> In the end, what I'm suggesting is this issue is merely a
> recommendation.
>
> Currently Guix is very annoying to use on small Ext4 partitions, e.g. a
> 64 GiB SSD.  With compression on, you suddenly get 3x more space for
> your /gnu/store :)

I agree that compression is a nice feature.. It also speeds sequential
disk reads and writes. On an old laptop that has a 64 GiB SSD and uses
ext4, I have to 'guix gc' too often, and worry a lot about spaces
(there's literally not much else than Guix on the drive, but it manages
to fill it up quite easily :-).

Maxim

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