Bug#1143565: Debian should default to XFS

Hi,

* John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <[email protected]> [260804 11:37]:
>On Tue, 2026-08-04 at 11:01 +0200, Marco d'Itri wrote:
>> XFS is the default file system used by the main Enterprise Linux
>> distribution, so I think that we should default to use it too.
>>
>> <Md> juliank: since RH defaults to XFS I think that we should as well, but I
>>      have no idea about how to do this in Debian without wasting months in
>>      bikeshedding and then fail anyway :-(
>> <zeha> start with a partman bug and see if it dissolves into bikeshedding?

>I don't really have a skin in this game, but I don't think that the fact
>that RHEL defaults XFS is really a compelling argument to switch the default
>filesystem in Debian.

That's certainly a valid point. I take this to mean that you think 
we should have technical arguments for one or another default, as 
opposed to picking something just because someone else does it.

>Unlike RHEL, Debian isn't an enterprise distribution, it's a universal distribution,
>so it has quite different needs when it comes to the default choices.

Inferring from above, what does the "universial distribution" do 
here? We've been riding this argument for so long, that we now have 
defaults (everywhere in the distro) that are bad for almost 
everybody. That's certainly a way of being "universal", but not in a 
good way.

IMO the best thing would be for someone to point out technical 
tradeoffs of different available choices, and then as a distro we 
can make a decision. If we cannot pick anything because we think we 
cannot pick anything, then also the default we cannot pick should go 
away.

If you have any insights on what the universal distribution needs as 
the default, please by all means post them! But otherwise, please 
lets stop invoking the universal distro.

Best,
Chris