Reiser4 and kernel inclusion

Posted Sep 23, 2005 16:45 UTC (Fri) by IkeTo (subscriber, #2122)
In reply to: Reiser4 and kernel inclusion by NAR
Parent article: Reiser4 and kernel inclusion

> "database in a file" is not a question of "can be done" or "can't
> be done". It has been done already at least 20 years ago and there
> are at least two implementations

Um... I might be wrong, but I really think that "database in a file" isn't quite what ReiserFS achieves. Instead, what it achieved is "filesystem in a database". The whole filesystem is implemented by using database technologies that simply holds a single huge B+-tree, with journaling features and such. And the database is being backed by a raw block device. Because it is "a filesystem in a database", of course it has all the database features. It is just the question of whether it exposes the filesystem features of itself into the user space (ReiserFS 4) or not (ReiserFS 3).

Reiser4 and kernel inclusion

Posted Sep 23, 2005 19:13 UTC (Fri) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

In fact, "database in a file" is far removed indeed from what reiser4 is trying to do; comparisons with VMS are misplaced here. I suggest a read through the files on namesys.com to get an understanding of the ideas and vision behind reiser4. It will not be a quick read, and you have to deal with some of the stranger artwork I've ever seen in technical material, but it can be worth the effort regardless.