this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Yeah, but I thought the philosophy was not to break userspace. I'm fine with the removal if absolutely nobody uses it, but some have commented here being users of the feature
Hmm, I don't really think this counts as user space. This is a kernel configuration parameter. User facing for sure, so a bit of gray area perhaps.
I think its userspace too. But I don't know how this is defined anyway. Otherwise removing any drivers in the Kernel would count as breaking userspace too, and they do it all the time.
The removed drivers are usually those that are really old and not used by anybody (using the latest kernel), so it's a bit different.
Sure, but I think the point is that most people don't even use data=journal option with EXT4. If I understand it right. But I get it, EXT4 is a common and stable and important part of Linux. Removing any feature, even if it not that many uses them, sounds wrong to me too. My previous point was actually trying to define if this falls into breaking userspace, and I just took a random example that affects userspace too. Because Linus doesn't say "we are only allowed to break userspace, if just a few people use it", he does not want do it at all. My point was, a driver in Kernel doesn't fall under userspace.