64 bit ext4 issues with bootloaders.

[bigpup]

From this info on Gparted
https://mail.gnome.org/archives/commits ... 01079.html
Sorry, you have to read and pick out what applies.

GParted will re-implement the
+ // removed mke2fs.conf(5) auto_64-bit_support option to
+ // avoid the issues with multiple boot loaders not working
+ // with 64bit ext4 file systems.

In Tahrpup64 6.0.6 the mke2fs.conf has a section on ext4.

ext4 = {
features =has_journal,extent,huge_file,flex_bg,uninit_bg,dir_nlink,extra_isize
auto_64-bit_support = 1
inode_size = 256

Question
by having auto_64-bit_support = 1
Is Gparted making ext4 64bit?



In another linked post it says this:

Do not use 64-bit by default on ext4, since some bootloaders cannot handle
it yet. But use "auto_64-bit_support = 1", which will enable 64-bit if the
number of blocks for the file system requires the feature to be enabled.

So, should this auto_64-bit_support = 1 be removed?
Stay the way it is?

[jd7654]

Question
by having auto_64-bit_support = 1
Is Gparted making ext4 64bit?

No, not unless size of partition requires it. It will be 32-bit Ext4.
You can check with tune2fs -l command to see if 64bit feature exists on a partition.

In Debian 9 config, 64-bit is always on for mke2fs, as seen with 64bit in feature list below, unless you specify -O ^64bit in mke2fs command to turn it off:

Code: Select all

	ext4 = {
		features = has_journal,extent,huge_file,flex_bg,metadata_csum,64bit,dir_nlink,extra_isize
		inode_size = 256
	}

So, should this auto_64-bit_support = 1 be removed?
Stay the way it is?

Leave it, in case someone is using Puppy to partition a drive big enough to require it.(>16TB)

You can also force it to 64-bit with -O 64bit option in mke2fs. Some versions of GParted you may see it override to 32-bit with -O ^64bit in the mke2fs command details. That may be part of the confusion.

My previous post on the issue was in case you already had installed Puppy on another Linux partition with 64-bit Ext4 and needed to turn the feature off to be 32-bit Ext4 and Grub4DOS compatible without needing to reformat or lose data.