# Which file system for FreeBSD <--> Linux data exchange?



## Blackbird (Jun 7, 2010)

I'm setting up my disk layout and I'm wondering which file system I should use for a data exchange partition for Linux and FreeBSD. It's because I will compile all programs from source on both and want a common partition for collecting all the source code. :e

So it should be read-writable both ways.

Any recommandations?


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## graudeejs (Jun 7, 2010)

NFS, probably

maybe try zfs?
http://www.osnews.com/story/23416/Native_ZFS_Port_for_Linux


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## gall0ws (Jun 7, 2010)

ext2 should be okay.


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## aragon (Jun 7, 2010)

ext2


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## segfault (Jun 7, 2010)

Anything but ext4? (found out the hard way that there seems to be no ext4 support in BSD).


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## vermaden (Jun 7, 2010)

EXT2 with 128 INODE SIZE.


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## Blackbird (Jun 8, 2010)

Ok, you see I'm not adept at this.
So, what are the advantages/disadvantages of your answers?
Why should I choose NFS, why ZFS, or why ext2?


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## graudeejs (Jun 8, 2010)

NFS - if you have 2+ PC's and want to share fs
ext2 - because it's supported by bough systems
zfs - because it's hot, and rocks

it's up to you to decide, you could as well use msdosfs, ntfs, etc

probably reading wikipedia, will help to decide


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## Blackbird (Jun 8, 2010)

Why do you think that ZFS rocks? :e
And, isn't ext3 with Inode size 128 supported by both of them as well?


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## Blackbird (Jun 8, 2010)

And, I also can't get information about the different writing speeds with FreeBSD. Of course I want to have a file system on which both Linux and FreeBSD have a good writing speed.


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## graudeejs (Jun 8, 2010)

Blackbird said:
			
		

> Why do you think that ZFS rocks?


because I use it on my desktop and server for quite some time now


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## oliverh (Jun 8, 2010)

ext2 ; ZFS is barely usable in Linux the port lacks certain mechanisms and is more an alpha hack than an reliable option.


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## yks (Jun 8, 2010)

Blackbird said:
			
		

> Why do you think that ZFS rocks? :e
> And, isn't ext3 with Inode size 128 supported by both of them as well?


AFAIK, ext3 is just a journaled version of ext2.
It is not obvious, though, whether FreeBSD's ext2fs()(5) driver supports journaling on it, so in the worst case you may encounter FS inconsistencies when mounting from linux. (BTW, a bug/or feature? - the BBcode [man]ext2fs[/man] doesn't seem to point to _man ext2fs_...)


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## Oxyd (Jun 8, 2010)

I've been happily using an ext2fs partition for sharing data between FreeBSD, Linux and Windows for quite some time. Just my two cents.


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## graudeejs (Jun 8, 2010)

yks said:
			
		

> (BTW, a bug/or feature? - the BBcode [man]ext2fs[/man] doesn't seem to point to _man ext2fs_...)



ext2fs(5) it works if you add [red]man*=5*[/red] instead of [red]man[/red]


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jun 9, 2010)

Also in cases where one does not
particularly care about r/w speed, nor
large files, a small fat32 filesystem
can be convenient (possibly on a 
thumbdrive too)


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## Blackbird (Jun 9, 2010)

So, I guess I'm going to use ext2 - Thank you!


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## SPlissken (Jun 11, 2010)

Hi all

Personnally i do this.
One external disk with UFS on it , Linux can read it and even write (i read it somewhere)
One other external disk with same capacity but formatted as NTFS and here of course xBSD,Linux and window can read and write on it (thanks ntfs-3g)

Of cours , you can use home NAS also


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