Will upgrading to F33 without converting to btrfs break things in the (far) future?

[vainly]

Hi!

This is a followup question to the following topic: https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/updating-from-32-to-33/66419.

As was mentioned, upgrading from Fedora 32 to 33 will work flawlessly, even if the filesystem is set to ext4.

However, since the coming Fedora releases will all be based on btrfs, will I encounter problems in the long term if I keep my disk formatted in ext4?

Please don’t get me wrong: I actually endorse the change to btrfs, and will choose it if getting a new machine. It is only that I fear upgrading my current system to btrfs, since I need it constantly due to my studies, and I don’t know if my (ext4) backups will be compatible if something goes wrong.

So, will the upcoming Fedora releases (34 etc) work if you still have ext4?

Thank you very much and keep the nice work up

Bests
Vainly

[vgaetera (Vladislav Grigoryev)]

Ext4 is one of the corporate standards, so it should be fine in the coming years if not decades.

[alciregi (Alessio)]

I don’t know how you perform backups, BTW you can copy files from different filesystems (i.e. an USB disk formatted as ext4 to your btrfs home).

Talking about your question, I’m not aware of any plan to drop ext4 support in the near future.

[chrismurphy]

@vainly

However, since the coming Fedora releases will all be based on btrfs, will I encounter problems in the long term if I keep my disk formatted in ext4?

No.

It is only that I fear upgrading my current system to btrfs, since I need it constantly due to my studies, and I don’t know if my (ext4) backups will be compatible if something goes wrong.

No hurry, take your time.

So, will the upcoming Fedora releases (34 etc) work if you still have ext4?

Yes. And Fedora 35 … and for the foreseeable future.