Will PCLOS KDE4 Have Ext4 Support?

[4evergr8ful]

I am waiting for the official release of KDE4 and haven't been playing with the test builds. From what I've read here the pre-release is now based on kernel 2.6.27 and it's my understanding for Ext4 support kernel 2.6.28 or higher is needed. But on the other hand I read that Fedora 10 has a kernel based on kernel 2.6.27 that has Ext4 support. http://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#For_people_who_are_running_Fedora
So basically what kernel version will PCLOS KDE4 be shipping with and if it's based on kernel 2.6.27 will it support Ext4?

[Texstar]

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=61002.msg496129#msg496129

Haven't tried a livecd or installing to a ext4 partition.

[Joble]

hehe, if I understood that post, I would probably be using ext4 right now, or at least explaining why I'm not.  Since it's way over my head, I'm not using ext4, or even attempting to.

Glad that wasn't a stupid question.  I might have been able to answer it.

[Texstar]

hehe, if I understood that post, I would probably be using ext4 right now, or at least explaining why I'm not.  Since it's way over my head, I'm not using ext4, or even attempting to.

Glad that wasn't a stupid question.  I might have been able to answer it.

Here let me put it in simple terms. The kernel 2.6.27.31 has a patch that adds ext4 driver support to the kernel hence the changelog:

- add ext4 driver support

I have not tested it building a livecd with this kernel using the unionfs filesystem or tried to install to a ext4 partition. I do know one would also need the extra stuff in testing such as grub, libext2fs2, libblkid1,  util-linux and mount.

[Joble]

Now that is something I can understand.  I will attempt it on Live-USB this weekend.  Either I will get lucky and get it right, or I will not get lucky and ask a stupid question.  Sounds like a challenge worth attempting.  So, I'm thinking, update the kernel on my Minime install, and get the settings right for mklivecd and get the settings right again for mkliveusb and Voila, ext4.  hmm, we'll see.

Am I close?  Should I even attempt it?

[Anikan]

- add ext4 driver support
I have not tested it building a livecd with this kernel using the unionfs filesystem or tried to install to a ext4 partition. I do know one would also need the extra stuff in testing such as grub, libext2fs2, libblkid1,  util-linux and mount.

Testing 2.6.27.31.tex4 on a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5400+
[guest@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.27.31.tex4 #1 SMP Sat Aug 22 10:26:04 CDT 2009 i686Aborted

[4evergr8ful]

Now that is something I can understand.  I will attempt it on Live-USB this weekend.  Either I will get lucky and get it right, or I will not get lucky and ask a stupid question.  Sounds like a challenge worth attempting.  So, I'm thinking, update the kernel on my Minime install, and get the settings right for mklivecd and get the settings right again for mkliveusb and Voila, ext4.  hmm, we'll see.

Please post your results here. Very interested to know the outcome.

Thanks Tex for your quick response. Can't wait to see your latest masterpiece!
Surprisingly, I have found Ext4 to be noticeably faster than Ext3.

[Texstar]

[guest@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.27.31.tex4 #1 SMP Sat Aug 22 10:26:04 CDT 2009 i686Aborted

Should be fixed in the latest updates from testing on pass.

[texstar@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.27.31.tex4 #1 SMP Sat Aug 22 10:26:04 CDT 2009 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ GNU/Linux

[Anikan]

Thanks Tex

[Joble]

hehe, if I understood that post, I would probably be using ext4 right now, or at least explaining why I'm not.  Since it's way over my head, I'm not using ext4, or even attempting to.

Glad that wasn't a stupid question.  I might have been able to answer it.

Here let me put it in simple terms. The kernel 2.6.27.31 has a patch that adds ext4 driver support to the kernel hence the changelog:

- add ext4 driver support

I have not tested it building a livecd with this kernel using the unionfs filesystem or tried to install to a ext4 partition. I do know one would also need the extra stuff in testing such as grub, libext2fs2, libblkid1,  util-linux and mount.

hmm, I musta did something wrong.  I installed the new kernel first, then booted into it, then updated the stuff from testing, and rebooted again.  No go.  I get a limited shell as root in the hda5 if I type in the root password, the / partition, which is still ext3, I have not changed it.  My other option is to Ctrl-D  to reboot, over and over again.  I booted into my Minime and did fsck on hda5 for that install, and no errors.  Not sure what I might have done wrong, just reporting that, it didn't work as expected, for me.  I got a big empty data partition I would like to format as ext4.

My instincts tell me, it's an fstab problem.  I believe the cheatcode might be -hwdetect to rewrite the fstab.  Will try that, and report back.

[old-polack]

hehe, if I understood that post, I would probably be using ext4 right now, or at least explaining why I'm not.  Since it's way over my head, I'm not using ext4, or even attempting to.

Glad that wasn't a stupid question.  I might have been able to answer it.

Here let me put it in simple terms. The kernel 2.6.27.31 has a patch that adds ext4 driver support to the kernel hence the changelog:

- add ext4 driver support

I have not tested it building a livecd with this kernel using the unionfs filesystem or tried to install to a ext4 partition. I do know one would also need the extra stuff in testing such as grub, libext2fs2, libblkid1,  util-linux and mount.

hmm, I musta did something wrong.  I installed the new kernel first, then booted into it, then updated the stuff from testing, and rebooted again.  No go.  I get a limited shell as root in the hda5 if I type in the root password, the / partition, which is still ext3, I have not changed it.  My other option is to Ctrl-D  to reboot, over and over again.  I booted into my Minime and did fsck on hda5 for that install, and no errors.  Not sure what I might have done wrong, just reporting that, it didn't work as expected, for me.  I got a big empty data partition I would like to format as ext4.

My instincts tell me, it's an fstab problem.  I believe the cheatcode might be -hwdetect to rewrite the fstab.  Will try that, and report back.

As we say to the newbies, what error messages do you see?

[Joble]

Of course, I knew that was coming, working on it. 

[Joble]

OK, first, I want to tell you what I did, before I forget.

Getting the error on hda5 I booted int my minime install hda7. 
I unmounted hda5 "/" for my main install and hda6 "/home" for my main install.
Now for stupid:  I installed e2fsck from testing (why?  When my / and /home are still ext3 to begin with?)
I tested hda5 and hda6, both tested fine.
booted back to my main install with the updated kernel to write down the error.  No problem.
booted back into my minime install to post the error.  DOH!  Same Error there now!

Now, the interesting part.  My minime 2008 fully updated install used to have the 2009 boot graphics, now, it has the 2009.2 boot graphics, leading me to believe my menu.lst might have been rewritten?  But why, when I only updated e2fsck?  Don't know, but will investigate.

Now for the error:

Setting Hostname localhost:   [OK]
Checking root filesystem
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit: line 728: fsck: command not found
                                                                                           [FAILED]
.... Limited Shell; The system will reboot ....
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue:_

Now in both my main install, and my minime install on my hard drive.  No, I'm not worried, I got backups and I wear protection now, having learned the hard way many times over, but, can this be fixed without a reinstall?  I still want ext4 on my data partition if at all possible, and am willing to test anything that needs testing.  Fixing this will take some time however, unless O-P or Tex can work their magic once again.

[Texstar]

You need util-linux-2.16-1pclos2009.i586.rpm package or copy the fsck file from the livecd to your hard drive.

[Joble]

will give that a try, and report back.  probably not tonight though.  I gotta figure out what you just said.  

I do love learnin stuff, even if I still learn the hard way.  I'm just glad you didn't repost that donkey butt picture.