Re: [ANN] Squashfs 3.0 released

[Jeff Garzik]

Phillip Lougher wrote:
> On 17 Mar 2006, at 16:00, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> > Jörn Engel wrote:
> > > > > The one still painfully missing is a
> > > > > fixed-endianness disk format.

> > Fixed endian isn't necessarily a requirement.  Detectable endian  is.  
> > As long as (a) the filesystem mkfs notes the endian-ness and  (b) the 
> > kernel filesystem code properly handles both types of  endian, life is 
> > fine.
> That's what is currently done.  There are two filesystem formats, big  
> endian (donated by Squashfs magic of 'sqsh') and little endian  (denoted 
> by Squashfs magic of 'hsqs').  The kernel code detects the  filesystem 
> endianness and swaps if necessary.

Well, then, I don't see a need to change anything.  As I said, 
[consistent and] detectable endian is the real requirement.  For 
SquashFS's users, I would think they would prefer the current situation 
(selectable endian) to fixed endian, because many SquashFS users need to 
squeeze every ounce of performance out of severely resource-constrained 
devices.

I have two routers, ADM5120-based Edimax and LinkSys WRT54G v5, both of 
which have a mere 2MB of flash, and both use SquashFS to maximize that 
space.  And both are el cheapo, slow embedded processors that run far 
slower than 300Mhz.  I look askance at anyone who wants to make an 
arbitrary filesystem design decision imposing tons of bytesex upon these 
lowly devices.

	Jeff


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