[Pkg-zfsonlinux-devel] About downstream patches on debian packages from zfsonlinux.org repository.

[Brian Behlendorf]

On 08/26/2016 08:55 AM, Carlos Alberto Lopez Perez wrote:
> On 25/08/16 21:08, Turbo Fredriksson wrote:
>>> Also, does having support for NFS/SMB/iSCSI built-in inside ZFS allow to
>>>> do something that can be done otherwise ?
>> zfs create -o sharenfs=on -o sharesmb=on filesystem
>> zfs create -o shareiscsi=on -V10g volume
>>
>> How can this NOT be a "killer feature"??!
>>
> 
> The feature itself is "sharing via NFS/SMB/iSCSI".
> 
> So, this adds a more convenient or easier way to use a feature.
> 
> But it don't really adds a feature that was missing on Debian.
> Debian already has the necessary tools to do this from many years ago.

This is a large part of the reason why these patches haven't been merged
to ZoL.  This support is principally a convenience for certain common
use cases and not core ZFS functionality.

Every major Linux distribution does provide some set of tools to share
filesystems via NFS/SMB/iSCSI.  However the exact versions of those
tools, how they're packaged, configured and expected to be used varies
significantly.

I'm sure the proposed patches work well on Debian where they were
developed and tested.  But they can't be accepted upstream until they're
reviewed and verified to work properly on other major distributions.
Upstream we invest a huge amount of effort making sure ZoL works
properly on as wide a range of Linux targets as possible.

It's this reality that makes implementing sharing through the ZED a more
appealing solution.  Once implemented each distribution would just need
to provide a few small scripts to do what's right for them.  Personally
I would have liked to see this already implemented.  But like many open
source project we have limited resources and it hasn't been a priority.

> How can we set up a process to make it easier to push changes back
> upstream.  I read from Turbo Fredrikson that this is non-trivial today.
> Is there something we can do from the Debian side to make it easier?

We've tried to streamline the process of submitting patches.  There's
definitely still room for improvement but it's easier than it used to
be.  If anyone is interested in helping improve the process we'd welcome
the help.

Despite my concerns above I'm willing to revisit merging the existing
sharing patches as long as they meet the same requirements of as other
proposed changes.

* They should be rebased against the master branch, apply cleanly, and
introduce no new build warnings or failures as reported by the automated
testing.

* They should update and enable all of the existing 'share' tests in the
ZFS Test Suite.  These tests will be run by the automated testing
infrastructure and must to pass on all the regularly tested distributions.

* They must receive positive code reviews from a ZFS developers other
than the author and myself.

> Perhaps someone from this team should show up in San Francisco in a
> month to join the OpenZFS Developer Summit?  Should we try to organize
> developer gatherings for the ZFS people in ZoL, Ubuntu and Debian to
> increase the chance of these people working together?  Can we set up

I'd love to see a representative from the Debian team at the OpenZFS
Developer Summit.  I'll be there giving a talk as will several other key
ZoL developers.  Many of the talks this year are based on work being
done on Linux.

-- 
Thanks,
Brian

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