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	Sun, 3 Aug 1997 16:53:26 -0500 (EST)
From: "John S. Dyson" <toor@dyson.iquest.net>
Message-Id: <199708032153.QAA00790@dyson.iquest.net>
Subject: Re: ext2fs and FreeBSD
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970803135446.965A-100000@DonaldBurr.DonaldBurr.dyn.ml.org> from Donald Burr at "Aug 3, 97 02:08:27 pm"
To: dburr@POBoxes.com (Donald Burr)
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 16:53:26 -0500 (EST)
Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
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> I need a way of exchanging large amounts of data between Linux and
> FreeBSD, that does NOT involve a network.  I have Jaz drives on both
> machines, so that seemed like the perfect solution.  Unfortunately,
> Linux's UFS support is lame (besides, it's read-only), and since I need
> long filenames (and FreeBSD does not support Win95, aka VFAT), that option
> is out as well.
> 
> Browsing through my kernel config file (based on LINT), I notice there is
> an option for "EXT2FS"... Aha!  This sounds like just the thing.  So I
> compiled a kernel with it, formatted a Jaz cartridge and mke2fs'd it on my
> Linux box, and mounted it on my FreeBSD machine.  So far so good...
> 
> But I have a question: How "stable" is the e2fs support?  Is it buggy, has
> it crashed, etc?
>
It isn't super (UFS) stable, but generally works, and there is a pending commit
for a bug that keeps the filesystems from being properly unmounted while an EXT2FS
filesystem is mounted.  The most important thing is to unmount your EXT2FS
filesystem before rebooting.

> 
> Also, there is no "fsck" program for ext2, and the standard /sbin/fsck
> doesn't know about ext2fs... Is there one for FreeBSD I should grab and
> compile, or can I use the Linux "e2fsck" binary? (I have linux binary
> support enabled)
> 
The Linux one ports pretty easily.  FreeBSD doesn't support the raw device
size ioctl, so the ext2fsck needs to be slightly modified.

Sorry that I haven't gotten to it, and it hasn't been an extremely high
priority...  But, for transient copying of file structures, etc it works fine.
I have even run Linux binaries from a mounted Linux root filesystem -- but again
I would'nt use it in a critical production ISP situation or the like.

I'll leave a copy of the e2fs tools (essentially the same as the
Linux ones on ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/incoming/e2.cpio.gz )  They
are incomplete, and might not work (I have no EXT2FS partitions to play
with right now.)  It'll take a few hours before it will appear.

John