I hear from Google Gemini that the contents of the fs directory includes:
The Virtual File System Layer (VFS) -- abstracts common operations across various file systems to enable presenting a unified interface to user applications,
Specific File System Implementations -- btrfs, ext4, xfs, etc. -- each file systems implementation contains a "file_operations" structure with pointers to the filesystem-specific functions which implement user-level system call operations, such as read, write, open, and ioctl, and
Additional, related "helper" implementations -- e.g., read-write.c which handles certain generalized parts of read/write operations such as buffering and page-caching. For example, the functions in read-write.c might be used by multiple specific file system implementations.
I asked Google Gemini to organize the files within fs by listing the top level functions together with the files which implement each of the top level functions. Here below is Gemini's list. I commented a few places where Gemini's list didn't seem in accordance with Linus' HEAD.
Key Subsystems and Representative Files (fs/ directory):
Virtual Filesystem (VFS) Core: (Provides the common interface and infrastructure for all filesystems)
fs/namei.c: Pathname lookup (resolving paths to inodes).
fs/file.c: File object management (representing open files).
fs/stat.c: File status information (stat() system call).
fs/open.c: File opening (open() system call).
fs/read_write.c: Core read/write operations and helpers (often used by specific filesystems). Not the primary entry point, but provides important utilities.
I'm curious why the fs directory doesn't have subdirectories organized according to function. For example, there could be fs/vfs-core, fs/implementations, fs/caching, etc.
Apparently BSD kernels also have a Virtual Filesystem Layer ("VFS"). How early in Unix did the VFS layer appear? Was a VFS common in pre-Unix operating systems?
It's easy to imagine that ZFS conceivably might have its own implementation of some of the helper systems or even its own version of the VFS, and that these within-the-specific-filesystem implementations might have contributed to possible "difficulty" of including ZFS in the Linus kernel proper. I'm curious why ZFS wasn't included. Do we know?
Is anybody aware of a well recognized, introductory Linux kernel or BSD source code discussion which follows the "overview / top-down" style of analysis which I am trying to use here?
Is anybody up on the mistakes Google Gemini apparently made? Could these be as simple as, "Oh, that's version x.xx?"
Thanks for any help on any of these questions! Thanks for additional observations and comments!
Does anybody else want to join the server? If yes, please check How to Apply in the OP. Thanks @Hosteroid!
Hello!
I'd like a slice for experimenting with NixOS and hosting some open-source projects (Vaultwarden, Whoogle search, Openwebui). If you need any additional infos about me, I'll happy to provide through PM.
My ssh public key is ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHZ7KokkDS4XU9M15R3htHbt4ZJ9NQeYxVbKWinbE3n5.
Thank you!
@Not_Oles said: I'm curious why ZFS wasn't included. Do we know?
Not being that familiar with the history of the relevant discussions I don't know if there are also other (technical, political, social, whatever) reasons, but the reason that is usually given is the legal uncertainty of GPLv2 (the Linux license) and CDDL (the ZFS license) compatibility. Here's one summary, with links to other discussion (including opposing opinions):
@quangthang said:
Hello!
I'd like a slice for experimenting with NixOS and hosting some open-source projects (Vaultwarden, Whoogle search, Openwebui). If you need any additional infos about me, I'll happy to provide through PM.
My ssh public key is ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHZ7KokkDS4XU9M15R3htHbt4ZJ9NQeYxVbKWinbE3n5.
Thank you!
Thanks for your request, which makes me happy! Of course, I definitely do remember you from previous servers, and so I am very delighted to have you joining hlcs!
I sent you login info. You are sharing root with me and with @cmeerw.
Please feel free to do whatever you want as long as it's White Hat. Please post here about what you are doing and about any questions you have.
Hello everyone.
I just got around to do some basic setup (set up user account, change to fish shell).
BashVM is installed
It seems like it's not installed globally. I cloned the repo into my home dir, ran the install script again but it mostly skipping cause required pkgs and configs are already installed
...
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
dnsmasq is already installed.
Default storage pool is already active.
Default network is already active.
...
I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can make a NixOS VM.
The installation process was successful but it's stuck on this screen. I've must have done something wrong. I think I'll grab the graphical iso to use their graphical installer.
One of dependencies on my config keep failing build. Which is weird cause it built just fine in other instances and my local laptop. Anyway, I'm going to call it a day.
@quangthang said:
One of dependencies on my config keep failing build. Which is weird cause it built just fine in other instances and my local laptop. Anyway, I'm going to call it a day.
Isn't that just a timing thing, i.e. it took 6 ms too long?
@Not_Oles said: I'm curious why ZFS wasn't included. Do we know?
Not being that familiar with the history of the relevant discussions I don't know if there are also other (technical, political, social, whatever) reasons, but the reason that is usually given is the legal uncertainty of GPLv2 (the Linux license) and CDDL (the ZFS license) compatibility. Here's one summary, with links to other discussion (including opposing opinions):
Sorry about my delayed response to your comment. I wanted to wait until I had a chance to look at the SFConservancy link you provided.
I really appreciate your comment for at least four reasons.
First, your comment concisely and directly answers the question I asked and not some other question.
Second, your comment provides excellent context: you sketched a typology of possible reasons why some software project might or might not be included in another software project: licensing, technical, social, political, other.
Third, your comment includes a link to relevant and comprehensive further discussion from multiple, inconsistent points-of-view.
Fourth, the tone of your comment is friendly and positive and helpful instead of negative and snarky.
Now that, thanks to you, I might understand a little better, I have to decide what to do.
It seems like Debian and the Conservancy and Oracle might have arrived, for the time being, at somewhat of a compromise regarding the use of ZFS on Linux. I guess that compromise might be good enough for me to continue glancing at ZFS on Debian on our Community Server. Nevertheless, I now imagine that I might want a really important reason before continuing with ZFS beyond an educational glance. I might want some specific context where ZFS clearly would be a better choice than any of the other available file systems.
Thanks again for your really helpful comment! Thanks to @Hosteroid for our beautiful Community Server!
Hi @quangthang! I've seen your posts above but I haven't had a chance to read them carefully. Luckily @cmeerw was here and kindly responded! I'm glad you got in to the server! Yaaay!
I got a chance to read your posts and to look up a few things. I've never used NixOS, so I don't have anything to add to what you and @cmeerw already have said.
I hope you go ahead on the server and have a lot of fun! Best! <)
@quangthang said:
One of dependencies on my config keep failing build. Which is weird cause it built just fine in other instances and my local laptop. Anyway, I'm going to call it a day.
Isn't that just a timing thing, i.e. it took 6 ms too long?
Yes, It looks like the unit test is running performance evaluation. I don't expect it to fail by that small margin though 😭
If it's okay with @cmeerw, maybe @quangthang might like to try installing NixOS on the entire bare metal server? The server has an HTML5 IPMI available. We could then keep going with NixOS or change back to Debian or to something else later. Whatever people want is fine with me.
@Not_Oles said:
If it's okay with @cmeerw, maybe @quangthang might like to try installing NixOS on the entire bare metal server? The server has an HTML5 IPMI available. We could then keep going with NixOS or change back to Debian or to something else later. Whatever people want is fine with me.
I would prefer keeping the existing Debian installation on the server, and just installing NixOS onto its own logical volume to (dual-)boot into NixOS (so we could either relatively easily switch back to Debian or mount the existing data/home partition in NixOS), if @quangthang wants to run NixOS on bare metal.
When I installed bashvm I wasn't sure where to put it. I wanted everybody to be able to read it, but I didn't want to change the root $PATH or the user $PATH.
What I did was put bashvm in /usr/local.
root@hlcs:~/.ssh# cd /usr/local
root@hlcs:/usr/local# ls
bashvm bin etc games include lib man plan9 sbin share src
root@hlcs:/usr/local# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/plan9/bin
root@hlcs:/usr/local# cd bashvm
root@hlcs:/usr/local/bashvm# ls
arm bashvm-dhcpv6-network-auto.sh bashvm.sh
bashvm-add-port-forwarding.sh bashvm-dhcpv6-network-manual.sh bashvm-show-port-forwarding.sh
bashvm-create-auto-vm.sh bashvm-installer.sh LICENSE
bashvm-create-vm.sh bashvm-monitor.sh README.md
bashvm-delete-auto-vm.sh bashvm-remove-port-forwarding.sh
root@hlcs:/usr/local/bashvm#
Since everybody has root, maybe it might be okay to add bashvm to the $PATH?
root@hlcs:~# cp -p .bashrc .bashrc~
root@hlcs:~# ed .bashrc # This is GNU ed. Maybe I should use `9 ed`. /s
769
a
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bashvm export PATH
.
w
810
q
root@hlcs:~# tail -n 5 .bashrc
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin export PATH
MANPATH=:/usr/pkg/man export MANPATH
PLAN9=/usr/local/plan9 export PLAN9
PATH=$PATH:$PLAN9/bin export PATH
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bashvm export PATH
root@hlcs:~# logout
Connection to xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx closed.
chronos@penguin:~/servers/hosteroid$ `head -n 1 login` # In bash, I type this as Ctrl-r ` /s
Linux hlcs.metalvps.com 6.1.0-28-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.119-1 (2024-11-22) x86_64
[ . . . ]
Last login: Fri Jan 10 23:35:26 2025 from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
root@hlcs:~# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/pkg/bin:/usr/local/plan9/bin:/usr/local/bashvm
root@hlcs:~#
@Not_Oles said:
If it's okay with @cmeerw, maybe @quangthang might like to try installing NixOS on the entire bare metal server? The server has an HTML5 IPMI available. We could then keep going with NixOS or change back to Debian or to something else later. Whatever people want is fine with me.
I would prefer keeping the existing Debian installation on the server, and just installing NixOS onto its own logical volume to (dual-)boot into NixOS (so we could either relatively easily switch back to Debian or mount the existing data/home partition in NixOS), if @quangthang wants to run NixOS on bare metal.
Hello! I got another server temporarily so that I can mess with LVM without risk of causing disruption here. More on LVM in a little while.
If I understand right, @quangthang wants to try running Nix on ARM architecture, and our server is Intel.
@cmeerw Might you have plans to use our nice Community Server for another project any time before too long?
Does anyone else want to use our nice Community Server? Please check the OP section on How to Apply. Thanks!
Does anybody else (@cmeerw?) want to take over from me the administration of our nice Community Server?
If no LESbians want to use our server in the near future and if no one among us wants to take over its administration, maybe we should consider returning the server to Hosteroid?
@Not_Oles said:
Hello! I got another server temporarily so that I can mess with LVM without risk of causing disruption here. More on LVM in a little while.
If I understand right, @quangthang wants to try running Nix on ARM architecture, and our server is Intel.
@cmeerw Might you have plans to use our nice Community Server for another project any time before too long?
Not sure... one thing that's on the back of my mind is the use of OpenStreetMap data - so maybe I could start looking at tilemaker. What's never clear with all of these OSM related projects is how much resources these projects need - so I guess you just have to try and see.
Does anyone else want to use our nice Community Server? Please check the OP section on How to Apply. Thanks!
Does anybody else (@cmeerw?) want to take over from me the administration of our nice Community Server?
Do you mean just the technical side or also the non-technical side (like user sign-ups)?
@cmeerw said: Not sure... one thing that's on the back of my mind is the use of OpenStreetMap data - so maybe I could start looking at tilemaker. What's never clear with all of these OSM related projects is how much resources these projects need - so I guess you just have to try and see.
@cmeerw said: maybe I could start looking at tilemaker.
Sounds great! No rush.
As I said, I'm working on the filesystem stuff on another server, for a little while.
To be clear, my main concern is staying fair with Hosteroid. If at least somebody has an upcoming use for the Community Server -- like your tilemaker idea -- then that's great! On the other hand, if nobody has anything coming up, then that's still great, but conceivably better use might be made of our fine Community Server.
I'd be happiest if we had a few more Neighbors, maybe two or three? Enough people who want to post actively to maybe keep the thread on the front page most of the time while providing fascinating content for LES.
If the server continues with just you and me, that's super great -- as long as it's also okay with Hosteroid.
@cmeerw said: Do you mean just the technical side or also the non-technical side (like user sign-ups)?
I meant both, although without trying to push anything in any particular direction. I wondered if there is something about me which prevents our LESbian friends from using the Community Server.
Maybe it's the ID out-in-public or known-by-me requirement. I would stand on that requirement until I know another way of helping the kiddies enjoy their fun elsewhere.
Maybe it's my relative lack of technical ability and experience which could be keeping more of our LESbian friends away? Certainly, if you were to formally take over the tech side, nobody could have any complaints. Of course, generous guy that you are, you're already doing server administration whenever you see something that needs to be done. Also, since you are sharing the root, I am never in your way, which is how I like things to be.
Processing user sign ups is mostly just saying no to people who haven't read the OP. Others, like you and quangthang just get in right away, without much processing beyond adding their keys.
If you want to do anything differently, please just say so. Same with @Hosteroid. I'm glad to have learned that you do have the tilemaker idea coming up! I'm glad for having given you and Hosteroid an opportunity to help decide what happens. Thanks to both of you for listening!
@cmeerw said: maybe I could start looking at tilemaker.
Sounds great! No rush.
As I said, I'm working on the filesystem stuff on another server, for a little while.
To be clear, my main concern is staying fair with Hosteroid. If at least somebody has an upcoming use for the Community Server -- like your tilemaker idea -- then that's great! On the other hand, if nobody has anything coming up, then that's still great, but conceivably better use might be made of our fine Community Server.
It definitely shouldn't just idle all the time - that would be too wasteful.
BTW, did some test runs yesterday with tilemaker, and got it to convert "South America" to vector tiles (but already using around 11 GB memory during the process and creating a 5 GB output file). Will have to see if it will be able to handle the larger regions from https://download.geofabrik.de/ (Europe is about 10 times the size for the input file) when not keeping everything in RAM.
I'd be happiest if we had a few more Neighbors, maybe two or three? Enough people who want to post actively to maybe keep the thread on the front page most of the time while providing fascinating content for LES.
Absolutely!
If the server continues with just you and me, that's super great -- as long as it's also okay with Hosteroid.
@cmeerw said: Do you mean just the technical side or also the non-technical side (like user sign-ups)?
I meant both, although without trying to push anything in any particular direction. I wondered if there is something about me which prevents our LESbian friends from using the Community Server.
As long as the server is running something Debian based, I am happy to keep an eye on the server. But I don't think I would be any good at handling user sign-ups - I am probably way too opinionated here (as soon as the main reason for signing up is to run some pre-made VM image, it's already a "no" for me)
As long as the server is running something Debian based, I am happy to keep an eye on the server.
Thanks so much!
Debian is great, of course, and Debian also is very widely adopted. That's why, originally, I asked @Hosteroid for Debian, since I thought Debian would be the most appreciated OS by the majority here at LES. However, since it seems just you and me on the Community Server for a while, we could switch to NetBSD, or to anything else, any time you wish. Whatever OS you want to run, and whenever you want to switch, or not, is okay with me.
But I don't think I would be any good at handling user sign-ups - I am probably way too opinionated here (as soon as the main reason for signing up is to run some pre-made VM image, it's already a "no" for me)
Haha, somehow I think you would be great at user sign-ups!
@Not_Oles said:
I wondered if there is something about me which prevents our LESbian friends from using the Community Server.
Nobody dares to rely on your "community" server because it's "ephemeral".
Reboot every day!
Reinstall every week!
Cancel next month!
Sure, if you want something you can rely on, sign up with a commercial provider. I don't think the "community" server should in any way try to compete with commercial providers or take away business from them (particularly as it's being sponsored by a commercial provider).
In my mind, the idea is to provide the resources where you can try out an idea (that you otherwise wouldn't do), and if it works out and you want to continue with it long-term, you can then look for more stable hosting options (and maybe even sign up with @Hosteroid)
Comments
I heard the the filesystem code lives in the
fsdirectory. So I took a look.Hey! We can see ext4 in there! And xfs! And btrfs! If I understand right, the ZFS code is not present, but needs to be added via a kernel module.
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
I hear from Google Gemini that the contents of the fs directory includes:
The Virtual File System Layer (VFS) -- abstracts common operations across various file systems to enable presenting a unified interface to user applications,
Specific File System Implementations -- btrfs, ext4, xfs, etc. -- each file systems implementation contains a "file_operations" structure with pointers to the filesystem-specific functions which implement user-level system call operations, such as read, write, open, and ioctl, and
Additional, related "helper" implementations -- e.g., read-write.c which handles certain generalized parts of read/write operations such as buffering and page-caching. For example, the functions in read-write.c might be used by multiple specific file system implementations.
I asked Google Gemini to organize the files within fs by listing the top level functions together with the files which implement each of the top level functions. Here below is Gemini's list. I commented a few places where Gemini's list didn't seem in accordance with Linus' HEAD.
Key Subsystems and Representative Files (fs/ directory):
Virtual Filesystem (VFS) Core: (Provides the common interface and infrastructure for all filesystems)
fs/dcache.c: Directory entry cache (dentry).fs/inode.c: Inode management (core inode operations).fs/namei.c: Pathname lookup (resolving paths to inodes).fs/file.c: File object management (representing open files).fs/stat.c: File status information (stat()system call).fs/open.c: File opening (open()system call).fs/read_write.c: Core read/write operations and helpers (often used by specific filesystems). Not the primary entry point, but provides important utilities.fs/super.c: Superblock management (representing mounted filesystems).fs/vfs_kern.c: Miscellaneous VFS kernel functions. # No vfs_kern.cfs/libfs.c: Helper functions for various filesystem operations.fs/mount.c: Mounting and unmounting filesystems. # No mount.c. There is mount.h.Specific Filesystem Implementations: (Provide the concrete implementation for each filesystem type)
fs/ext4/: (Entire directory) Ext4 filesystem.fs/xfs/: (Entire directory) XFS filesystem.fs/btrfs/: (Entire directory) Btrfs filesystem.fs/fat/: (Entire directory) FAT filesystem.fs/ntfs/: (Entire directory) NTFS filesystem support.Buffer and Page Caching: (Manage caching of disk blocks and file data in memory)
fs/buffer.c: Buffer cache management (for disk blocks).fs/pagemap.c: Page cache management (for file data). # No pagemap.cfs/bio.c: Block I/O layer. Handles submission and completion of block I/O requests. #No bio.cQuota Management: (Limit disk usage by users and groups)
fs/quota/: (Entire directory) Disk quota management.File Locking: (Mechanisms for coordinating access to files)
fs/locks.c: File locking (e.g., flock, fcntl locks).Virtual Filesystems: (Provide filesystem-like interfaces to kernel resources)
fs/proc/: (Entire directory) procfs (process information).fs/sysfs/: (Entire directory) sysfs (kernel parameters and system information).fs/debugfs.c: debugfs (kernel debugging).fs/tmpfs/: (Entire directory) tmpfs (RAM-based filesystem). # No tmpfs subdirectoryNamespaces: (Isolate filesystems and other resources)
fs/nsfs.c: Namespace support (mount namespaces).Other Utilities and Helpers: (Various supporting functions and modules)
fs/ioctl.c: ioctl system calls (device-specific operations).fs/exec.c: Program execution (related to theexecve()system call).fs/fs-writeback.c: Writeback mechanism (flushing dirty data to disk).fs/char_dev.c: Character device management (though some character device drivers might be elsewhere).fs/fs_struct.c: Per-process filesystem information.I'm curious why the fs directory doesn't have subdirectories organized according to function. For example, there could be fs/vfs-core, fs/implementations, fs/caching, etc.
Apparently BSD kernels also have a Virtual Filesystem Layer ("VFS"). How early in Unix did the VFS layer appear? Was a VFS common in pre-Unix operating systems?
It's easy to imagine that ZFS conceivably might have its own implementation of some of the helper systems or even its own version of the VFS, and that these within-the-specific-filesystem implementations might have contributed to possible "difficulty" of including ZFS in the Linus kernel proper. I'm curious why ZFS wasn't included. Do we know?
Is anybody aware of a well recognized, introductory Linux kernel or BSD source code discussion which follows the "overview / top-down" style of analysis which I am trying to use here?
Is anybody up on the mistakes Google Gemini apparently made? Could these be as simple as, "Oh, that's version x.xx?"
Thanks for any help on any of these questions!
Thanks for additional observations and comments! 
Does anybody else want to join the server? If yes, please check How to Apply in the OP.
Thanks @Hosteroid! 
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Hello!
I'd like a slice for experimenting with NixOS and hosting some open-source projects (Vaultwarden, Whoogle search, Openwebui). If you need any additional infos about me, I'll happy to provide through PM.
My ssh public key is
ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHZ7KokkDS4XU9M15R3htHbt4ZJ9NQeYxVbKWinbE3n5.Thank you!
MetalVPS
Not being that familiar with the history of the relevant discussions I don't know if there are also other (technical, political, social, whatever) reasons, but the reason that is usually given is the legal uncertainty of GPLv2 (the Linux license) and CDDL (the ZFS license) compatibility. Here's one summary, with links to other discussion (including opposing opinions):
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2016/feb/25/zfs-and-linux/
Hi @quangthang!
Thanks for your request, which makes me happy! Of course, I definitely do remember you from previous servers, and so I am very delighted to have you joining hlcs!
I sent you login info. You are sharing root with me and with @cmeerw.
Please feel free to do whatever you want as long as it's White Hat. Please post here about what you are doing and about any questions you have.
Always best wishes!
Tom
Thanks to @Hosteroid for our very nice server!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Hello everyone.
I just got around to do some basic setup (set up user account, change to fish shell).
It seems like it's not installed globally. I cloned the repo into my home dir, ran the install script again but it mostly skipping cause required pkgs and configs are already installed
I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can make a NixOS VM.
MetalVPS
VM created, now to the installation. Not sure if it's my part but i'm getting constant vnc timed out
MetalVPS
The installation process was successful but it's stuck on this screen. I've must have done something wrong. I think I'll grab the graphical iso to use their graphical installer.
MetalVPS
It's up!
MetalVPS
One of dependencies on my config keep failing build. Which is weird cause it built just fine in other instances and my local laptop. Anyway, I'm going to call it a day.
MetalVPS
Isn't that just a timing thing, i.e. it took 6 ms too long?
Hi @hobofl!
Sorry about my delayed response to your comment. I wanted to wait until I had a chance to look at the SFConservancy link you provided.
I really appreciate your comment for at least four reasons.
First, your comment concisely and directly answers the question I asked and not some other question.
Second, your comment provides excellent context: you sketched a typology of possible reasons why some software project might or might not be included in another software project: licensing, technical, social, political, other.
Third, your comment includes a link to relevant and comprehensive further discussion from multiple, inconsistent points-of-view.
Fourth, the tone of your comment is friendly and positive and helpful instead of negative and snarky.
Now that, thanks to you, I might understand a little better, I have to decide what to do.
It seems like Debian and the Conservancy and Oracle might have arrived, for the time being, at somewhat of a compromise regarding the use of ZFS on Linux. I guess that compromise might be good enough for me to continue glancing at ZFS on Debian on our Community Server. Nevertheless, I now imagine that I might want a really important reason before continuing with ZFS beyond an educational glance. I might want some specific context where ZFS clearly would be a better choice than any of the other available file systems.
Thanks again for your really helpful comment!
Thanks to @Hosteroid for our beautiful Community Server! 
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Hi @quangthang! I've seen your posts above but I haven't had a chance to read them carefully. Luckily @cmeerw was here and kindly responded! I'm glad you got in to the server! Yaaay!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Hi again @quangthang!
I got a chance to read your posts and to look up a few things. I've never used NixOS, so I don't have anything to add to what you and @cmeerw already have said.
I hope you go ahead on the server and have a lot of fun! Best! <)
Thanks to @Hosteroid for the lovely server!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Yes, It looks like the unit test is running performance evaluation. I don't expect it to fail by that small margin though 😭
MetalVPS
Make sure you use the same NixOS channel checkout to eliminate the "it works in my other computers, just not this one" issue.
The all seeing eye sees everything...
Yes, I've basically copied my flake config over, with some boot loader config modification.
MetalVPS
If it's okay with @cmeerw, maybe @quangthang might like to try installing NixOS on the entire bare metal server? The server has an HTML5 IPMI available. We could then keep going with NixOS or change back to Debian or to something else later. Whatever people want is fine with me.
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
I would prefer keeping the existing Debian installation on the server, and just installing NixOS onto its own logical volume to (dual-)boot into NixOS (so we could either relatively easily switch back to Debian or mount the existing data/home partition in NixOS), if @quangthang wants to run NixOS on bare metal.
When I installed bashvm I wasn't sure where to put it. I wanted everybody to be able to read it, but I didn't want to change the root $PATH or the user $PATH.
What I did was put bashvm in
/usr/local.Since everybody has root, maybe it might be okay to add bashvm to the $PATH?
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
@cmeerw Excellent! Thanks for letting us know!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Just did an
apt-get dist-upgradeand a reboot to apply the Debian 12.9 updates.Hello! I got another server temporarily so that I can mess with LVM without risk of causing disruption here. More on LVM in a little while.
If I understand right, @quangthang wants to try running Nix on ARM architecture, and our server is Intel.
@cmeerw Might you have plans to use our nice Community Server for another project any time before too long?
Does anyone else want to use our nice Community Server? Please check the OP section on How to Apply. Thanks!
Does anybody else (@cmeerw?) want to take over from me the administration of our nice Community Server?
If no LESbians want to use our server in the near future and if no one among us wants to take over its administration, maybe we should consider returning the server to Hosteroid?
Thanks @Hosteroid!
Thanks LES! 
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Not sure... one thing that's on the back of my mind is the use of OpenStreetMap data - so maybe I could start looking at tilemaker. What's never clear with all of these OSM related projects is how much resources these projects need - so I guess you just have to try and see.
Do you mean just the technical side or also the non-technical side (like user sign-ups)?
Just installed a few required packages for that
and with that it compiled fine so far
Sounds great! No rush.
As I said, I'm working on the filesystem stuff on another server, for a little while.
To be clear, my main concern is staying fair with Hosteroid. If at least somebody has an upcoming use for the Community Server -- like your tilemaker idea -- then that's great! On the other hand, if nobody has anything coming up, then that's still great, but conceivably better use might be made of our fine Community Server.
I'd be happiest if we had a few more Neighbors, maybe two or three? Enough people who want to post actively to maybe keep the thread on the front page most of the time while providing fascinating content for LES.
If the server continues with just you and me, that's super great -- as long as it's also okay with Hosteroid.
I meant both, although without trying to push anything in any particular direction. I wondered if there is something about me which prevents our LESbian friends from using the Community Server.
Maybe it's the ID out-in-public or known-by-me requirement. I would stand on that requirement until I know another way of helping the kiddies enjoy their fun elsewhere.
Maybe it's my relative lack of technical ability and experience which could be keeping more of our LESbian friends away? Certainly, if you were to formally take over the tech side, nobody could have any complaints. Of course, generous guy that you are, you're already doing server administration whenever you see something that needs to be done. Also, since you are sharing the root, I am never in your way, which is how I like things to be.
Processing user sign ups is mostly just saying no to people who haven't read the OP. Others, like you and quangthang just get in right away, without much processing beyond adding their keys.
If you want to do anything differently, please just say so. Same with @Hosteroid. I'm glad to have learned that you do have the tilemaker idea coming up! I'm glad for having given you and Hosteroid an opportunity to help decide what happens. Thanks to both of you for listening!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
It definitely shouldn't just idle all the time - that would be too wasteful.
BTW, did some test runs yesterday with tilemaker, and got it to convert "South America" to vector tiles (but already using around 11 GB memory during the process and creating a 5 GB output file). Will have to see if it will be able to handle the larger regions from https://download.geofabrik.de/ (Europe is about 10 times the size for the input file) when not keeping everything in RAM.
Absolutely!
As long as the server is running something Debian based, I am happy to keep an eye on the server. But I don't think I would be any good at handling user sign-ups - I am probably way too opinionated here (as soon as the main reason for signing up is to run some pre-made VM image, it's already a "no" for me)
Thanks so much!
Debian is great, of course, and Debian also is very widely adopted. That's why, originally, I asked @Hosteroid
for Debian, since I thought Debian would be the most appreciated OS by the majority here at LES. However, since it seems just you and me on the Community Server for a while, we could switch to NetBSD, or to anything else, any time you wish. Whatever OS you want to run, and whenever you want to switch, or not, is okay with me.
Haha, somehow I think you would be great at user sign-ups!
I hope everyone gets the servers they want!
Nobody dares to rely on your "community" server because it's "ephemeral".
Reboot every day!
Reinstall every week!
Cancel next month!
No hostname left!
Sure, if you want something you can rely on, sign up with a commercial provider. I don't think the "community" server should in any way try to compete with commercial providers or take away business from them (particularly as it's being sponsored by a commercial provider).
In my mind, the idea is to provide the resources where you can try out an idea (that you otherwise wouldn't do), and if it works out and you want to continue with it long-term, you can then look for more stable hosting options (and maybe even sign up with @Hosteroid)