btrfs: A Better File System? Or a COW?

Folks,

This week we have a talk on a new file system all in our new venue:

btrfs: A Better File System? Or a COW?

(Or a few random letters to test the vocalisation skills after a hard night of acronyms? 🙂 )

Without getting lost in either deep arcanery or the acronyms, I hope to give an insight into why btrfs is stirring much excitement as the new advanced filesystem for Linux. We already have a plethora of filesystems to choose from, and many users are not even aware of what filesystem they might be using. So why do we need yet another filesystem? Is this all for further advancement or yet more confusion? Does it even matter for our modern day super fast machines? Or even for the typical home machine or small ‘appliance’? There are an infinity of ways to arrange data, but which way is ‘best’?

So, is your data meticulously neatly stacked ready for instant retrieval? Or is the arrangement more like an random explosion in a young person’s bedroom?…

For new and old alike, all to be unscrambled at:

To find us, go through to the back of the pub and we’re up the spiral staircase. Just ask one of the friendly bar staff for NLUG if lost.

Food is also served through into the evening.

Wednesday 02/03/2011:

• 7:30pm: Meet
• 8:00pm: Talk
• 9:00pm: General discussions

All welcome!

Cheers,
Martin