Topic: How about a 2.4 Kernel option and Journal FS

[Sergio]

I believe that one thing it would be nice to have is a 2.4 kernel and
by extension the ability to run some journaled filesystem.

Recently I had a defective ethernet card that was crashing my
home server after some uptime. To make a story short I went
to the store to get a new card. Guess what? I had to try 3 different
cards till I got one old enough that worked with the server v 5.1.2!!!
And the first two said linux compatible.... yes, 2.4 compatible but
not 2.2 unless one recompiles some module files from a floppy (.o files wouldn't be accepted because it was specific to a particular
kernel version ;-( )

Another side effect of the crashes is that it takes a long time to
fsck the drives and to fix ext2 fs inconsistencies if the crash was
 bad. A journaled fs would really make a difference in those situations.

I understand that reliability was an issue with early 2.4 kernels,
but the lifetimeof the 2.2 kernels is reaching its limits.

I believe that e-smith should offer the possibility to use a more recent kernel as and install option or as a Blade upgrade. Also
it should offer the option to use the ext3 fs at minimum as a
config option if the kernel supports it. This would be an evolutionary path to the new kernels and would allow the user base to start testing better and more reliable servers.

Just my two cents.

Thanks,
             Sergio

PS: Someone else already mentioned this for sure but it would be
nice to be able to assign AppleTalk and Windows drivers for the
client stations to use if available. It would definitively help a lot.
Now, the trick is to make it a file upload from the interface tool.

[Edmund Laugasson]

I completely support your ideas. That's what I'm thinking, too! It's time to turn on 2.4 kernel packet filtering power and forget the ipchains pains... Also is EXT2 so sensitive against power interrupts. I had old Slackware router on EXT2 and after 3 accidental power interrupts the filesystem couldn't repair itself...

[darren]

Here! Here! Upgrade to Kernel 2.4!

Quote:"kernel.org is now running rsync 2.5.5." Ref:http://www.kernel.org/

   It might be nice to get some in-built support for all the things people here complain/ask for.... But you know, "it's want the customers want" that drive the product, not the users.