EXT4

On the Linux kernel mailing list people has been discussing about forthcoming ext4 filesystem. Some proposed checksums but the idea was abandoned. Not any really good ideas are introduced except from delayed allocation, higher resolution timestamps and support for larger volumes and file sizes, so I thought how about embedded point of view? We have special requirements for example for flash memory. Performance, battery life and such crucial things for embedded devices. For example flash memory has limited amount of write operations for specific section and after that it's died. Is there any needs for filesystem to support safe write/read operations. If your flash memory section dies, you should be able to use the filesystem still. You might get errors and lost some data. Recovery of lost data? Marking bad sectors a better way? Predicting these situations? How would you improve the filesystem? The conversation is ongoing on the Linux kernel mailing list, it needs your contribution.

Thought from the other side, how about desktop and server systems? Is there any special requirements for them, what do you need. Is ext3 perfect? Probably not, so how to improve it? All ideas are welcome.