“XFS is a journaling filesystem that SGI is in the process of
both porting to Linux and releasing to the Open Source community.
Basically, a journaling filesystem like XFS dramatically reduces
the recovery time after a system crash. Furthermore, XFS is a
64-bit filesystem that by nature allows for very large filesystems
and files.”
“The commitment, which SGI is making to Linux, means that
the success of Linux is crucial to the success of SGI. This
means that SGI should be allocating substantial resources to
supporting and improving Linux. The support which SGI will be
offering for their Linux-based systems should serve to help find
and resolve that many more issues with Linux. Furthermore, SGI
brings considerable development talent to the table from having
developed its own commercial Unix variant, Irix, for several years.
This should also help accelerate current kernel development efforts
by SGI contributing in this area.
Another development area where SGI should be able to lend
considerable expertise is multiprocessor support in the Linux
kernel. SGI currently owns Cray Systems, makers of the most
powerful super-computers on the planet. These Cray systems can have
up to 192 processors, Gigs and Gigs of RAM, Terabytes of storage
capacity, etc. SGI is in the process of spinning Cray Systems off
into a separate company that they will not maintain a stake in,
however, SGI has years of experience with these extremely high-end
servers. This experience with Cray systems should allow them to
make very significant contributions to enhancing multiprocessor
capabilities in the Linux kernel.”