CentOS - Feb 2013 - centos 5 with xfs root?

Hi List,

Is it possible to install centos 5 with xfs root and how to do it?

--
Eero

On 2/23/2013 7:40 AM, Eero Volotinen wrote:
> Hi List,
>
> Is it possible to install centos 5 with xfs root and how to do it?
afaik, its not.  I'm pretty sure grub doesn't know how to read XFS


-- 
john r pierce                                      37N 122W
somewhere on the middle of the left coast

Eero Volotinen wrote:
> Hi List,
> 
> Is it possible to install centos 5 with xfs root and how to do it?
Yes it is possible - we've been doing just that for years (and with 
centos 4 before that).

The method we use involves using a modified installer (anaconda)

Anaconda for RHEL/centos 5 already has support for XFS - but the bits 
that allow for XFS plus XFS on root (and /boot) are disabled - so in 
simple terms, it is just a case of patching anaconda to allow XFS to be 
selected and used on the root file systems, adding in the various 
xfs_utils apps to the list of apps added to the install image (plus 
having the xfs_utils RPM available), then rebuilding the anaconda RPM 
and finally rebuilding the installer image

Grub will work with XFS /boot - but I had to add a further hacks to 
anaconda to get this to work reliably - it is much better to use ext2|3 
as /boot and still have XFS as the root file system

Of course, none of the above is straight forward or easy :-)

However, I'm not sure there is much to gain by having XFS root and 
(and/or /boot) file systems

James Pearson

On 2/23/2013 7:40 AM, Eero Volotinen wrote:
> Is it possible to install centos 5 with xfs root and how to do it?
Wait.  I just realized you're asking about centos *5* and XFS?

I wouldn't use XFS with EL5, root or not....  the XFS support was very 
preliminary, the base kernel was just too old.

XFS is properly supported in EL6, although still not as root due to 
reasons give by others.

-- 
john r pierce                                      37N 122W
somewhere on the middle of the left coast