anaconda and btrfs

[Gene Czarcinski]

I have submitted an RFE bugzilla report asking for improvements in how 
anaconda deals with btrfs:
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=886691

There have been promises (threats?) to make btrfs the default starting 
with (IIRC) Fedora 16, then 17, and again 18.  In each case it did not 
happen and I believe that was good.  Nevertheless, btrfs has a great 
deal of promise and should become the default for Fedora ... just not yet.

However, if btrfs is ever going to be the default, there needs to be a 
lot more experience and testing of it.

Currently, is a start out with a "blank slate" and allocate a btrfs 
subvolume for root and perhaps /home, that works.

Similarly, in kickstart, if I use a freshly formatted btrfs volume and 
define the pool plus some subvolumes with mount points (again / and 
/home), this works.

What does not work is to try and use a new subvolume allocated into an 
predefined btrfs volume/storage-pool.  This also does not work in 
kickstart (or, at least, I have not figured out how to do it).

The major problem is the subvolume for root ("/") which needs to be in 
the equivalent state that a reformatted standard partition or LV work be 
... and this is reasonable.

Now, I  can reuse a previously defined /home and I suspect I could "fake 
it" for anaconda by defining an bunch of subvolumes for /usr, /var/ 
/etc, etc. and put / in a small standard partition but the purpose is 
not to "fake" things but to get things done.

What I want:

1.  In the gui, be able to allocate a new subvolume for root in an 
existing btrfs storage pool.

2. In kickstart, I want to be able to create a new subvolume for root in 
an existing btrfs storage pool.

Note, I said nothing about making btrfs the default.  I just want the 
capability to use it and I would expect it to be used in the future.

I believe that the above two things must be done sooner rather than 
later if there is any future for btrfs in Fedora.

Whether you believe I am right or wrong, please chime in with your 
comments here and in bugzilla.

If you have other suggestions, these are welcome also.

Maybe if there is enough interest, something will happen.

Gene