The news came as the second major blow in a week for the Reiser project after its key developer, Hans Reiser, was charged with murder following the recent disappearance of his estranged wife.
Novell’s decision to drop ReiserFS appears to be a coincidence. Earlier last month Jeff Mahoney of SUSE Labs had openly discussed a move away from ReiserFS on the openSUSE mailing list.
We’ve been using ReiserFS as our default installation file system for the last 6-7 years now, and it’s served us well in that time. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with it, some purely technical, some more related to maintenance, he wrote.
The solution for replacing an aging file system isn’t to switch to a brand new unproven file system, but rather a proven one with a clear upgrade path. That file system is ext3, he added.
Novell has confirmed that it will move to ext3 as its default file system, but will continue to support and make improvements to ReiserFS version 3.
Doubts were cast over the future of the ReiserFS and Reiser4 projects last week as an Alameda County Superior Court ordered developer Hans Reiser be held without bail pending a court appearance on November 28.
He was arrested following the disappearance of his estranged wide, Nina Reiser. Reports indicate she was last known to have been seen at his home on September 3. While her body has not been found, police are treating the disappearance as a homicide investigation after traces of her blood were found in his house and car.
