HOWTO: ReiserFS on Debian Woody

Step 1: Upgrade to a 2.4 Kernel

• Jump into dselect and select a 2.4 kernel image appropriate for your processor.
• During the preconfiguration step, the 2.4 kernel image package may have you do the following tasks:
  • Add "initrd=/initrd.img" to the "image=/vmlinuz" section in your /etc/lilo.conf file. Example:
    

       image=/vmlinuz
            label=Linux
            read-only
    #       restricted
    #       alias=1
            initrd=/initrd.img
    

  • Add "do_initrd = Yes" to the /etc/kernel-img.conf file. I did this step after dselect was finished, but before the reboot.
  • Make sure you allow the package configuration to create the /initrd.img symlink.

Step 2: Reboot the New Kernel

Step 3: Download and Build the ReiserFS v3.6 User Programs

• Download reiserfsprogs v3.6 from ftp://ftp.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/.
• Uncompress the tarball, build, and install the programs. The INSTALL file in tarball will explain how to do this.

Step 4: Create the Partition for the New Filesystem

• Make sure the partition is of type Linux (Type 83).

Step 5: Create the New Filesystem

• For example, if your new filesystem is to be on /dev/hdb1, run the following command:
  

  mkreiserfs /dev/hdb1

Step 6: Add an fstab Entry

• Edit the /etc/fstab file and add a new entry:
  

  /dev/hdb1   /bob   reiserfs   defaults,rw,user   0      0
  

Step 7: Mount Your New Filesystem

   mount /bob
   - or -
   mount /dev/hdb1 /bob -t reiserfs

You can now write very large files to this new filesystem. My first attempt with a ReiserFS was creating a v3.5 ReiserFS under a patched 2.2 kernel. Not only was the maximum file size still limited to 2 Gigabytes, the performance was slow. Upgrading to v3.6 under a 2.4 kernel fixed both of these problems. From a user perspective, you will not notice any differences between a ReiserFS and an Ext2 filesystem, other then being able to create larger files.