[mythtv-users] Fwd: Re: Is XFS the best choice?

[Rod Smith]

On Monday 12 February 2007 18:15, Steve Hodge wrote:
> On 2/13/07, Rod Smith <mythtv at rodsbooks.com> wrote:
> > On Monday 12 February 2007 03:43, Jeremy Hunt wrote:
> > > My Myth box using XFS
> > > would crash constantly when recording 3 shows while watching a fourth,
> > > basically heavy IO. After a bit of frustration I found the notes about
> > > using 8k stack kernels when using XFS and made the switch.
> >
> > Would somebody mind providing a pointer to how to make this change?
...
> In the kernel config, it should be under Kernel Hacking->Kernel
> Debugging->Use 4Kb for kernel stacks instead of 8Kb.
>
> At least with my Gentoo 2.6.16-r7 kernel that's where it is.

It must have moved or been removed. I've checked a 2.6.17 kernel (as delivered 
with Ubuntu, I believe) on a 32-bit system, a 2.6.19.2 kernel on the same 
32-bit system, and a 2.6.19.1 kernel on a 64-bit system. None have anything 
resembling that option in that location. I can understand why I might have  
never seen it before, though; I seldom spend much time in the "Kernel 
hacking" area, and by the time I reach it in my pass through configuring a 
kernel, I'm pretty zoned from having read over so many options that don't 
apply to me! ;-)

My reading from other sources indicates that the general trend is toward 4KB 
stacks rather than 8KB stacks. If so, and if XFS is really unstable with 4KB 
stacks even with recent kernels, then this could be a problem going forward. 
OTOH, perhaps the XFS instability with 4KB stacks has been dealt with -- but 
that could just be wishful thinking.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com