Re: [PATCH 3/3] minix: calculate s_firstdatazone to support more inodes

From: Jori Koolstra

Date: Tue Nov 25 2025 - 16:53:26 EST


Hello Jan,

>
> This changelog misses explanation why handling s_firstdatazone == 0 is a
> good idea in the first place. Is it somehow situation present in real
> filesystems? If not then then why bother? More flexibility in accepting
> garbage always means more trouble down the road :), we've learned this
> lesson several times.
>

I believe that the Minix OS implementation of mfs supports it:

https://github.com/Stichting-MINIX-Research-Foundation/minix/
blob/4db99f4012570a577414fe2a43697b2f239b699e/minix/usr.sbin/
mkfs.mfs/mkfs.c#L659

But I understand your concern. Perhaps we should not make too many changes
to minix as discussed before. I would really like to work on a FUSE driver
for it, but am a bit stuck. I've discussed this with Shuah and she encourages
me to do it. However, I need to have some help to vet my idea on how to approach
it. She would have helped me but told me she is not an fs expert. Can I ask you
some questions to see if my approach is at least sensible? It would make a huge
difference to me. Of course, I also understand if you have no time for this.

Thanks,
Jori.