Re: Bug#1143565: Debian should default to XFS

On Tue, Aug 04, 2026 at 12:57:44PM +0200, Chris Hofstaedtler wrote:
>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.

That would make sense, yes.

>> 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.

Right. It's mostly meaningless at this level.