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Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 11:22:59 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>
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To: Sergei Mozhaisky <technix@ukr.net>
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Subject: Re: Compressed filesystem for FreeBSD
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On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Sergei Mozhaisky wrote:

> Hello everyone. 
> 
> I am searching for compressed filesystem for FreeBSD. 
> 
> Why do I need compressed filesystem? I am developer of FreeBSD-based
> LiveCD, and the main problem of liveCD is loading speed - it's too slow,
> comparing with Knoppix or other Linux LiveCD. Usage of compressed
> filesystem will improve software loading speed and allow to put more
> software to CD. 
> 
> I found info about project "FiST" in freebsd-fs archives, this is almost
> what I need: 
>  ftp://ftp.filesystems.org/pub/fist/fistgen-0.0.7.tar.gz But gzipfs
> module does not compile in FreeBSD (developers said that size-changing
> algoritm they used currently works only in Linux) So the question is
> simple: is there any implementations of compressed filesystems for
> FreeBSD (even as unofficial projects)? This will help a lot in such
> projects as FreeBSD-based LiveCD. 

If your file system is read-only, I wonder if the easier path wouldn't be
to implement a compression layer for GEOM.  That would keep you out of the
business of alternative for stacked file systems, which is a painful
business to be in :-).  You could use regular UFS or cd9660, and then
compress the resulting image using a custom (or off-the-shelf) tool.  The
trick will be to have random access to the compressed data...

Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects
robert@fledge.watson.org      Network Associates Laboratories