************************************************** ** ** ** Tux2 ** ** Thursday 5th October, 7.30pm ** ** Danson Room, Trinity College ** ** ** **************************************************
Daniel Phillips will be talking about Tux2.
Tux2 is an experimental modification of the Ext2 filesystem, to implement an atomic update of data and metadata using the "phase tree" algorithm defined by the author.
Unlike the traditional ext2 layout, and journalled alternatives such as ext3, with Tux2 the on-disk representation of the filesystem appears to change instantly from one consistent state to another; even in the event of a crash, the filesystem will never be left in an inconsistent state. This is the same kind of consistency guarantee as a journal provides, but without the redundant writes that a journal requires, and so it should perform better than a journalling filesystem.
Development on Tux2 was stopped several years ago when the question of patent conflicts arose. However, recent successes in the fight against software patents in the European Union have motivated the author to return to this work.
Directions to the venue are available at http://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/maps/.
The meeting will (as always) be followed by drinks at the Lamb and Flag http://www.ox.compsoc.net/oxfordguide/?Lamb_And_Flag.