bigalloc for recordings

[chrcoluk]

Does anyone have an opinion on this, the use of bigalloc (clustered storage ext4 option) for the storage drive in vix.

I used it on my last 2 drives, didnt really have any issues but it isnt the default option even to this day yet set top box usage seems the ideal candidate for it as most files stored are recordings.

Also I noticed tho even on a new image the kernel is really old still using 3.x kernel and some fixes for bigalloc are only in the newer 4.x kernels.

So 2 questions really (not in support thread as this isnt a specific support question but user to user, but of course developers are welcome to respond).

Why is the kernel old? Even on new vix images.
Is there any known issues using bigalloc ext4 filesystem option, like has it been proven less performant or something?

Thanks

[ccs]

Drivers only work on a specific kernel, so kernel updates will only ever happen when a driver update needs it.

And every box is different, so kernel versions will vary from old boxes to the latest.

[chrcoluk]

ok thanks bud, so just the question on bigalloc now.

[birdman]

ok thanks bud, so just the question on bigalloc now.

From tune2fs, these are the features set on my HD:

Filesystem features: has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype needs_recovery extent flex_bg sparse_super large_file huge_file uninit_bg dir_nlink extra_isize bigalloc

[Sicilian]

Bigalloc was removed because it caused issues on boxes with newer kernels. HDD space just kept filling excessively.

https://github.com/OpenViX/enigma2/commit/489559cb122eb399baf7b533c90b7e02489a12c9#diff-fde6799bce716737f18e4ca67770fe5e

[chrcoluk]

right thanks, I got some good news on that one tho Sicilian.

1 - That bug got fixed in linux upstream, I cannot remember the specific kernel version but it is now fixed.
2 - If you using a kernel with the bug, the problem is worked around by disabling delayed allocation feature, so using the mount option 'nodelalloc'

So if thats the only reason it got took off, then its easily fixable. I can send you a link to the linux bug report if you want.