Btrfs in Ubuntu 9.10

[Joseph Smith]

So how do I enable btrfs in the Ubuntu 9.10 installer?

Btrfs is not listed as an option in the list of available file systems during partitioning.
Do I have to pass some special command when booting the Live CD?

I did a search all over the forum but was unable to find an answer to this specific question.

[falconindy]

btrfs is still unstable (subject to change) and isn't included as an option during install. I'm not even sure the Ubuntu kernel includes btrfs.

[Joseph Smith]

If the kernel in 9.10 includes btrfs, there should be some secret command to enable it in the installer. I remember reading that in Fedora you had to pass "icantbelieveitsnotbtrfs" to the installation program during boot-up.

I am aware of the unstable state of btrfs, but I am willing to take a risk and experiment.

[falconindy]

This is the results of cat /proc/filesystems on my 10.04 VM:

nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev cgroup
nodev cpuset
nodev tmpfs
nodev debugfs
nodev securityfs
nodev sockfs
nodev usbfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev inotifyfs
nodev devpts
ext3
ext2
ext4
nodev ramfs
nodev hugetlbfs
nodev ecryptfs
nodev fuse
fuseblk
nodev fusectl
nodev mqueue
reiserfs
nodev vboxsf
nodev binfmt_misc
It's not in the kernel.

[Joseph Smith]

Eh...how are people supposed to test btrfs in Ubuntu, when the developers do not even include it in the kernel? :-(

By the way, I do not see xfs and jfs either in that list you provided, but those two file systems have been available in Ubuntu for a long time.

Something is not right.

[osx]

Any update on this subject? I, too, would like to start testing btrfs.

[osx]

I noticed there is a package (not installed by default) called btrfs-tools in Ubuntu 9.10. Does this enable the option to use the btrfs file system in Ubuntu?

By the way, great article on btrfs here http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7308/

[osx]

Eh...how are people supposed to test btrfs in Ubuntu, when the developers do not even include it in the kernel? :-(

By the way, I do not see xfs and jfs either in that list you provided, but those two file systems have been available in Ubuntu for a long time.

Something is not right.

Joseph,

I posted some information you may find useful. According to this site http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/btrfs-tools it does appear that installing the btrfs-tools package will allow you to convert an ext3 filesystem to btrfs. I plan on trying this out on a virtual machine.

[bugslayr]

Hello!
I also played with btrfs on an external disk ...
After installing btrfs-tools you can create file systems via /usr/bin/mkfs.btrfs.
See /usr/bin/btrfs* and the man pages for btrfsck btrfsctl btrfs-image btrfs-show for additional info.

To my knowledge the pseudo file /proc/filesystems lists the file systems supported by the currently running kernel. You probably have to load the btrfs module to use the file system.

If you want to boot from a btrfs device, you might have to tweak the kernel and/or ram disk to have support at boot time.

I hope this helps!
Martin