Re:compiler problems but yeah SGI DRT (Score 5)

This is a beta, and we've only done rudimentary performance tuning. Depending on your setup and workload, XFS yields results on par or slightly better than ext2.

We're working on replacing the current block I/O subsystem in Linux (aimed at 2.5, but will exist in the XFS tree in 2.4). Currently, Linux does block I/O in entities known as buffer_heads, which carry 512 byte payloads. The new scheme is based upon Stephen Tweedie's kiobuf model, and will support big (SCSI supports up to 16 MB/req) I/Os. XFS was primarily designed for big sustained I/Os and once we're done with the kiobuf support we'll start profiling the code and push it to the limits.

Regarding ports to other architectures: My Alpha here at the office is running XFS, but I haven't committed the changes yet. I ported XFS to it for fun a month ago but never got around to committing the changes. I'll do that at some point. And possibly look at SPARC.

But then again. This is Open Source. Feel free to hack on it and send us patches!