
ZFS on Linux 0.8.1 Released - chungy
https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/releases/tag/zfs-0.8.1
======
new_realist
Is ZFS SIMD still hobbled by Linux kernel GPL fundamentalism/militancy
(backported to LTS kernels, no less)?

~~~
kjeetgill
Do you consider anyone with strong beliefs that run counter to your own
fundamentalism/militancy?

Last I heard, the Linux Kernel was under the GPL and needs to comply with
that. Is "follow a contract I opted into" fundamentalism/militancy?

~~~
new_realist
I'm describing a _retroactive_ change that has no technical justification,
only political motivation. I have very liberal license preferences, but that
move was beyond the pale: a big middle finger to a kernel module which is
clearly not a derived work of the Linux kernel.

~~~
madez
Engineering, technology, and science are deeply political, where politics
isn't restricted to governments, parties, or official state systems. Refusal
to recognize that doesn't change it.

The GPL is a licence that was created by people well-aware of the political
significance, and it is the embodiment of certain political intentions in form
of a licence. Projects that consciously use it can be expected to act upon
those political intentions. Not understanding actions upon those political
intentions is rather a sign of not understanding the situation.

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hansdieter1337
Does anyone know what the "real" reason is for not exporting the kernel
function in 5.0+ anymore? Is there a technical reason, additional work or is
it just a middle finger to ZFS devs?

~~~
keeperofdakeys
The functions/symbols being used were __kernel_fpu_{begin,end}. These were
designed for use within the kernel, and not for external modules - however
external modules used them since there was no other alternative. At some point
the kernel announced these were being deprecated, and have now been removed.

Since they weren't designed for external modules, someone submitted a patch to
make them exportable. However the patch enforced EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL, so only
modules that report being GPL licensed can use them.

Now ZFS is in a position where it can't use the original kernel symbols since
they were removed, but can't use the new ones since they are marked as
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL.

[https://marc.info/?l=linux-
kernel&m=154689892914091&w=2](https://marc.info/?l=linux-
kernel&m=154689892914091&w=2)

~~~
zie
Just to finish off @keeperofdakeys comments: here is the ZFS answer:

[https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/commit/becdcec7b9cd6b8beaa...](https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/commit/becdcec7b9cd6b8beaa2273495b97c06de24e9e5)

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xmichael999
Thanks to the kind folks putting in the effort and bringing this to linux,
every release excites me! I've been a long long time fan of ZFS on BSD and
Solaris (yes I'm old).

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harald_rudell
I wrote a script that installs zfs 0.8.1 on Ubuntu 19.04 at no work. Works for
me and all pitfalls avoided

[https://github.com/haraldrudell/zfs-0.8.1-on-
ubuntu-19.04](https://github.com/haraldrudell/zfs-0.8.1-on-ubuntu-19.04)

That's like github haraldrudell zfs-0.8.1-on-ubuntu-19.04

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dddddaviddddd
What's notable in this release? Found it difficult to grasp from the detailed
change log.

~~~
opencl
Probably the most notable thing is compatibility with the upcoming 5.2 kernel,
otherwise just minor bugfixes.

0.8.0 came out just a few weeks ago and was a pretty huge release. It added
encryption, TRIM support for SSDs, ability to remove disks from zpools,
performance improvements, and more.

[https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/releases/tag/zfs-0.8.0](https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/releases/tag/zfs-0.8.0)

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techntoke
Great work everyone!

