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I agree with most of that, but I don't understand why you think DTrace is less invasive than another filesystem. They could have shipped ZFS all along and only
by cm3 10y ago
I agree with most of that, but I don't understand why you think DTrace is less invasive than another filesystem. They could have shipped ZFS all along and only now declared it stable, if they wanted to. They also could have integrated it again, now that it's actually more portable than before due to OpenZFS. I don't use Macs, so I don't have a direct interest in ZFSonMac, but using a filesystem which can be accessed from Linux, illumos and FreeBSD has some practical aspects which are definitely missing with APFS. Someone will eventually, unless Apple prevents it with IP and Patents, implement APFS for BSD or Linux, but just as NTFS-3G, it will never be fully stable and reliable as a Mac version of OpenZFS could have been. Apple's own APFS implementation will be stable of course, and for other versions to be good as well, they would have to open source the critical bits.
- mindajar 10y agoI think the point is that if Apple had to remove DTrace for legal reasons, the impact to Apple's business and customers would be minimal. If a hypothetical AppleZFS shipped on a billion devices and then Apple lost a patent lawsuit, Apple would be totally screwed. A filesystem can't just be pulled out of the OS without shipping a new one and converting every device. Apple could potentially be in a position where they couldn't sell any new devices at all, and ZFS support in other OSes wouldn't help at all.
- cm3 10y agoThat's a fair point, and I'm sure Apple didn't integrate DTrace without checking the legal ramifications.