Filed under: OS, Open Source, Apple
ZFS project for Mac OS X discontinued
Is it a forgotten project? A fit of open-source pique? Or is it just that everyone got really busy on other stuff? Looks like Apple has just shut down the ZFS project for Mac OS X. The site for the project on Mac OS Forge reads:ZFS Project Shutdown
2009-10-23
The ZFS project has been discontinued. The mailing list and repository will also be removed shortly.
It's hinted that this was caused by legal issues surrounding the merger of Sun Microsystems and Oracle, which caused Apple to back away from the next-generation file system technology. After many rumors, including ZFS support that was going to be added in Snow Leopard Server, but that ended up being removed in the final version, it now seems like the saga of ZFS on Mac OS X is ending with a whimper.
[via Daring Fireball]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bloodnok said 5:29PM on 10-23-2009
another legal issue that may have caused apple pause is the nasty lawsuit between netapp & sun over zfs features.
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Dustin Sallings said 5:50PM on 10-23-2009
I've done a port (at least for myself) so I can can at least access all of the media I had stored on ZFS before Snow Leopard.
http://dustin.github.com/2009/10/23/mac-zfs.html
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System Wizard said 10:22PM on 10-23-2009
Depressing, to be sure. When software patents stifle innovation like this, we as consumers all lose.
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Twist said 5:47PM on 10-23-2009
This really sucks. I have been looking forward to at least being able to read/write from/to ZFS arrays since before Leopard was released. I don't even care if it isn't bootable since I am mainly a laptop user. ZFS would solve so many issues I have with increasing storage and backup demands. Maybe we can get some OSS love to pick up the project where Apple left off or even support for ZFS via MacFUSE.
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Sparks said 6:45PM on 10-23-2009
Some folks are already on that, having forked the code with intent to continue it.
http://github.com/peaceful/zfs-mac
fak3r said 12:27AM on 10-24-2009
A big loss for sure, but if you want to be able to read/write from a ZFS array do what I did; install FreenNAS (based on FreeBSD) build a ZFS array and have all your storage and backup the way you want it.
http://www.freenas.org/
Heck, combine it with my ($SHAMELESS_PLUG) open source Dropbox clone setup and have all sorts of fun!
http://fak3r.com/2009/09/14/howto-build-your-own-open-source-dropbox-clone/
As a fulltime Linux user I was bummed when I learned about how cool ZFS was, knowing that it would never come to Linux (save via FUSE which isn't the same thing), and now that I'm getting a Macbook Pro (that may run Linux most of the time) I'm disappointed again with Apple dropping ZFS! Oh well, just goes to reinforce my belief and love for open source.
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Fletcher Tomalty said 8:57PM on 10-23-2009
http://twitter.com/nomulous
RT @9to5mac: Apple no longer pursuing ZFS as the next generation file system for OSX http://bit.ly/1gYpgZ [Z is so much better than N... :(]
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Rob said 9:43PM on 10-24-2009
I don't know why Apple does not look at JFS from IBM.
It is simply awesome. I have used in on Linux boxes for years. It is VERY FAST and robust and uses VERY little system resources. On VERY old PC's (e.g. 300 Mhz PII), JFS way outperforms ext3, ReisferFS etc.
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ArnoB said 1:45PM on 10-25-2009
Oh no! I've been using ZFS on FreeBSD for a long time now and was really looking forward to seeing it in OSX...
This is really a big loss...
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OmniDragon said 1:59PM on 10-26-2009
Well, if not ZFS, then what? HFS+ for the rest of eternity?
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Alexander Worley said 3:34PM on 10-27-2009
http://applemacintosh.chatango.com/
Talk about all things apple, even ZFS project for Mac OS X discontinued
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Kent Pribbernow said 10:52AM on 10-28-2009
Tragic. Just tragic. I so wanted the replacement of HFS with ZFS to become a reality.
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