ReiserFS

Not to be confused with ReFS.
This article is about ReiserFS version 3. For version 4, see Reiser4.
ReiserFS 3.6
Developer(s)Namesys
Full nameReiserFS
Introduced2001; 23 years ago (2001) with Linux 2.4.1
Partition IDs
Structures
Directory contentsB+ tree
File allocationBitmap[1]
Limits
Max volume size16 TiB[2]
Max file size1 EiB (8 TiB on 32 bit systems)[2]
Max no. of files232−3 (~4 billion)[2]
Max filename length4032 bytes, limited to 255 by Linux VFS
Allowed filename
characters		All bytes except NUL and '/'
Features
Dates recordedModification (mtime), metadata change (ctime), access (atime)
Date rangeDecember 14, 1901 – January 18, 2038 (32-bit Unix time)
Date resolution1 s
ForksExtended attributes
File system
permissions		Unix permissions, ACLs and arbitrary security attributes
Transparent
compression		No
Transparent
encryption		No
Other
Supported
operating systems		Linux, ReactOS

ReiserFS is a general-purpose, journaling file system initially designed and implemented by a team at Namesys led by Hans Reiser and licensed under GPLv2. Introduced in version 2.4.1 of the Linux kernel, it was the first journaling file system to be included in the standard kernel. ReiserFS was the default file system in Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise until Novell decided to move to ext3 for future releases on October 12, 2006.[3]

ReiserFS version 3.6, now occasionally referred to as Reiser3, introduced a new on-disk format allowing larger filesizes. Namesys considered ReiserFS stable and feature-complete and ceased development on it to concentrate on its successor, Reiser4, though it continued to release security updates and critical bug fixes. Namesys went out of business in 2008 after Reiser's conviction for murder. The product is now maintained as open source by volunteers.[4] The reiserfsprogs 3.6.27 were released on 25 July 2017.[5]

ReiserFS is currently supported on Linux without quota support. It has been discussed for removal from the Linux kernel since early 2022 due to a lack of maintenance upstream, and technical issues inherent to the filesystem, such as suffering from the year 2038 problem;[6][7][8] it was deprecated in Linux 5.18,[9] and marked as obsolete in Linux 6.6.[10] It is planned for removal in 2025.[11][12]

  1. ^ Reiser FS node layout, Namesys, archived from the original on 2006-06-14
  2. ^ a b c "Reiser FS Specifications", FAQ, Namesys, archived from the original on 2006-07-05
  3. ^ Shankland, Stephen (2006-10-16). "Novell makes file storage software shift". Business Tech. cnet..
  4. ^ Shankland, Stephen (January 16, 2008). "Namesys vanishes, but Reiser project lives on". CNet. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  5. ^ ""Fossies" - the Fresh Open Source Software Archive". July 25, 2017. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
  6. ^ "Linux Developers Discuss Deprecating & Removing ReiserFS". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  7. ^ "Is it time to remove reiserfs? - Matthew Wilcox". lore.kernel.org. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  8. ^ "Re: Is it time to remove reiserfs? - Dave Chinner". lore.kernel.org. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  9. ^ "Linux_5.18". Linux Kernel Newbies. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  10. ^ Purdy, Kevin (2023-08-31). "ReiserFS is now "obsolete" in the Linux kernel and should be gone by 2025". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2023-09-01.
  11. ^ Larabel, Michael. "Linux's ReiserFS Plan Is To Deprecate It, Remove The File-System In 2025". Phoronix. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  12. ^ "kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree". git.kernel.org. Retrieved 2022-05-22.