Kernel Configuration Part XXVII

Kernel Configuration - Part XXVII

It’s on to filesystem support in today’s installment of the kernel configuration

series.

As you know, Linux supports a wide variety of filesystem formats. From Amiga’s
FFS to System V/Xenix, you’re likely to find the filesystem of choice in the
Linux kernel configuration. However, many of the filesystems in the kernel
configuration are relatively rare and may not be fully supported by the
Linux kernel.

For the average box, you’ll need to select only a few items from the filesystems

section. First, you’ll need some type of native Linux filesystem support. ext2,
ext3 or ReiserFS are all good choices. ext3 is actually a journal extension of
ext2. In other words, ext3 adds the journal to ext2 for tracking filesystem
changes in the event of a dirty shutdown. ResiserFS is also a journalling
filesystem, though it varies quite a bit from ext3 in its approach. I’ve used
both and have been happy with the results.

If you’re setting up a dual-boot Win/Linux system, you’ll need to include
support for DOS FAT filesystems. In fact, a Win98/Linux system will require DOS
FAT and VFAT support to read, write and otherwise access Windows files. If, on
the other hand, you’re installing Win2K with NTFS, kernel version 2.4.x includes

read-only support.

Some of the other filesystem options you’ll find by default in your kernel
configuration are ISO 9660 (CD-ROM-type files), the /proc filesystem, and
virtual memory support. You can feel comfortable leaving these defaults
intact.

Tomorrow, it’s console driver support as the kernel configuration series
continues.