axfs

Stefan Monnier monnier at iro.umontreal.ca
Wed Nov 19 21:45:02 CET 2008


> i don't know if this topic was already a discussion, but i think, if
> openmoko could change to axfs,  i belive, it's a great performance-step.

Problems with it:
- axfs is read-only, so you'd need to use a setup similar to OpenWRT
  with a axfs filesystem containing "the base system" plus a jffs2
  filesystem layered on top (using some variant of unionfs).
- its main attraction is the XIP feature, but this only works with
  NOR flash.  We do have some NOR flash, but it's only 2MB (IIUC) and it
  can only be flashed with the debug-board, so the potential benefit is
  slim and restricted to those users who bought the debug board.

Using axfs+jffs2 might be an option, where the main benefit would be to
save some space on the flash drive, but currently the 256MB of flash is
rarely a significant limitation (especially if you're careful to keep
only application in the NAND and put all your data/images/sounds in the
microSD card).

Actually, the one place I know where the 256MB of flash is a bit short
is when installing Debian there, but using axfs+jffs2 with Debian would
be a fair bit of extra work and would often defeat the purpose of using
Debian in the first place.


        Stefan





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