The FreeBSD codebase has transitioned to using OpenZFS (ZFS on Linux)

Implementation of the ZFS file system in the main branch of FreeBSD (HEAD) translated to the use of OpenZFS code, which is developing the codebase of “ZFS on Linux” as the reference implementation of ZFS. In the spring, FreeBSD support was merged into the main OpenZFS project, after which development of all FreeBSD-related changes continued there, allowing FreeBSD developers to quickly incorporate all innovations being developed by the OpenZFS project.

Among the features that became available in FreeBSD after switching to OpenZFS: an advanced quota system, dataset encryption, a separate selection of allocation classes, the use of vector processor instructions to accelerate RAIDZ implementation and checksum calculations, support for the ZSTD compression algorithm, multihost mode (MMP, Multi Modifier Protection), improved command line tools, and fixes for many issues related to race conditions and locks.

Let’s recall that in December 2018, FreeBSD developers proposed a initiative to switch to the implementation of ZFS from the “ZFS on Linux” (ZoL) project, around which all recent activity related to ZFS development has been focused. The reason for the migration mentioned was the stagnation of the ZFS codebase from the Illumos project (a fork of OpenSolaris), which had previously been used as a basis for porting ZFS changes into FreeBSD.

The main contribution to the support of the ZFS codebase in Illumos had until recently been made by Delphix, which is developing the operating system DelphixOS (a fork of Illumos). Three years ago, Delphix decided to switch to ‘ZFS on Linux’, which led to the stagnation of ZFS from the Illumos project and the concentration of all related development activities in the ‘ZFS on Linux’ project, which is now regarded as the main implementation of OpenZFS.

FreeBSD developers decided to follow this common trend and not cling to Illumos, as this implementation is already significantly lagging in functionality and requires substantial resources to maintain the code and port changes. OpenZFS based on ‘ZFS on Linux’ is now regarded as a unified collaborative project for ZFS development.

Source: opennet.ru