From LQWiki

ReiserFS is a journaling filesystem. It is very good at dealing with large numbers of small files. Unlike ext3, another journaling filesystem, ReiserFS requires a fresh format, instead of converting an existing ext2 filesystem. ReiserFS stores as many files as will fit into a single block of data, unlike most other filing systems. Compared to other filing systems, this saves disk space, especially when working with lots of relatively small files. On the other hand, ReiserFS frequently breaks.

Currently there are 2 main versions of ReiserFS, 3.6 and 4

Version 3.* has had its development frozen. No new features are added, only bugs are fixed. It is quite stable and scales rather well.

Version 4 is a rewrite of the old 3.* versions. The most popular improvement is a plug-in system, which makes it possible to encrypt, compress or do whatever else through the actual filing system, and not use an external program (see filesystem encryption). Another improvement is the new dancing trees algorithm that is better than the balanced trees -algorithm in 3.* versions. Version 4 is also fully atomic.

As of 2008, ReiserFS 4 has not been included in Linux, due to many kernel developers who think a lot of ReiserFS 4's features should not be in the filesystem, but the kernel VFS layer. Also, due to legal problems with this filesystems main developer, there is lots of doubts about the future of ReiserFS, especially as other filesystems improve, and less people maintain the ReiserFS code of any version.

How to use it

• mkfs.reiserfs - create a reiserfs partition (aka "formatting")
• fsck.reiserfs - repair a reiserfs partition

External links

• ReiserFS FAQ (www.namesys.com)