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XFS Linux Release 1.0

Installing from the Source

You can obtain the complete linux-2.4.2 (released) tree including the XFS filesystem, or you can obtain an XFS patch onto an existing linux-2.4.2 tree or linux-2.4.3 tree. You will then need to configure and install the kernel.

This page provides information on the following topics:

  • Downloading the complete Linux tree including XFS
  • Creating an XFS tree via a patchfile
  • Configuring and installing the kernel
  • Creating the XFS tools

    • Downloading the complete Linux tree including XFS

    A complete linux 2.4.2 tree including the XFS filesystem is available for CVS checkout and for CVSup checkout. For instructions on checking the tree out of CVS, see the CVS download instructions. For instructions on checking the tree out of CVSup, see the CVSup download instructions. The Release 1.0 tree is named "linux-2.4-xfs-r1.0"

    Creating an XFS tree via a patchfile

    With this method, you will start with a "vanilla" linux-2.4.x tarball (linux-2.4.x.tar.gz, or linux-2.4.x.tar.bz2) and apply patches to obtain an XFS-capable kernel. One minor change for this release is that XFS now comes as two patches - one for the core Linux code (linux-2.4.x-core-xfs-1.0.patch), and one for the XFS filesystem itself (linux-2.4-xfs-1.0.patch). You will need both patches to build an XFS-capable kernel.

    Configuring and installing the kernel

    Configure and install your kernel as usual. See The Linux Kernel HOWTO for detailed instructions, if necessary.

    In your kernel configuration, you will need to enable:

    You may enable these options either as modules, or build them into the kernel. If you plan to use XFS as your root filesystem, then xfs must either be built into the kernel, or you must create an initial ramdisk (initrd) with the xfs module. Instructions for generating the initial ramdisk image are provided in Installing XFS from the Red Hat RPM packages.

    If you wish to migrate IRIX XFS disks to Linux you should enable:

    Should you experience problems with XFS, you may wish to enable:

    XFS Debug Mode (CONFIG_XFS_DEBUG) and XFS Vnode tracing (CONFIG_XFS_VNODE_TRACING) require that you enable:

    You will also need to upgrade the following system utilities to these versions or later:

    When your new kernel is built and installed, you should update LILO, create a new ramdisk image if necessary, and you're ready to boot an XFS-capable kernel.

    Creating the XFS tools

    You will also need to compile and install the XFS userspace tools. If you perform a CVS checkout, the userspace tools are available in the cmd/ directory. Otherwise, you will need to download the xfs command tarballs.

    The following userspace tools are available:

    acl
    A command (chacl) to manipulate POSIX access control lists under Linux.

    attr
    An experimental command (attr) to manipulate extended attributes under Linux.

    dmapi
    Files required by system software using the Data Management API (DMAPI). Information on DMAPI in XFS is provided in The Data Management API (DMAPI) web page.

    quota
    The quota package contains system administration tools for monitoring and limiting user and or group disk usage, per filesystem. Install quota if you want to monitor and/or limit user/group disk usage.

    xfsdump
    The xfsdump package contains xfsdump, xfsrestore and a number of other utilities for administering XFS filesystems.

    xfsdump examines files in a filesystem, determines which need to be backed up, and copies those files to a specified disk, tape or other storage medium. It uses XFS-specific directives for optimizing the dump of an XFS filesystem, and also knows how to backup XFS extended attributes. Backups created with xfsdump are "endian safe" and can thus be transferred between Linux machines of different architectures and also between IRIX machines.

    xfsrestore performs the inverse function of xfsdump; it can restore a full backup of a filesystem. Subsequent incremental backups can then be layered on top of the full backup. Single files and directory subtrees may be restored from full or partial backups.

    xfsprogs
    A set of commands to use the XFS filesystem, including mkfs.xfs.

    After unpacking these files, if necessary, perform the following tasks in each source tree:

    See the doc/INSTALL file in each package's source tree for more information about this process.

    If you have a previous version of the XFS tools, you must upgrade and recompile against the new kernel headers.

    If all this goes well, it's time to make a new XFS filesystem!

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