The Linux kernel developer mailing list published letters received by one of the developers during correspondence with Hans Reiser, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 for murdering his wife following an argument and attempting to cover up the crime (Hans will be eligible for parole in 2027). In the published letters, Hans expresses regret for his past mistakes in interacting with the developer community, reflects on the transition of ReiserFS v3 to a deprecated status in Linux kernel 6.6, analyzes the history of ReiserFS development, mentions hopes associated with the promotion of ReiserFS v4, and explains the technical solutions implemented in ReiserFS v4.
Commenting on the decision to remove ReiserFS from the kernel, Hans mentioned that the question of whether this filesystem remains useful and whether it should continue to be included in the kernel should be decided by users and maintainers in light of current realities. He understands that the presence of ReiserFS code in the kernel creates an additional burden on maintainers due to the need for testing and ensuring compatibility with new features in the kernel, and if the filesystem is no longer relevant, there is no point in continuing to package it in the kernel. Many drawbacks of ReiserFS 3 have been addressed in the development of ReiserFS 4, which simplifies maintenance, but this version has not been accepted into the kernel.
According to Hans, his only request is to add a mention of Mikhail Gilulu, Konstantin Shvachko, and Anatoly Pinchuk to the accompanying README file for ReiserFS code before the code is removed from the kernel, as their contributions to the development have been unjustly overlooked. They were hired by Hans and developed ReiserFS, but due to Hans's impulsive nature and high demands (Hans could work around the clock and expected similar enthusiasm from others), they left the project, which Hans perceived as a betrayal at the time. However, over time he realized that their decision was justified given the circumstances.
Source: opennet.ru
