ZFS Linux Adoption

Comments focus on why ZFS/OpenZFS isn't more widely used in Linux distros due to GPL licensing incompatibilities, its excellent support on FreeBSD, and comparisons to alternatives like BTRFS.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Open Source
4,368
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#2391
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
31
2009
89
2010
105
2011
45
2012
130
2013
152
2014
204
2015
150
2016
421
2017
388
2018
235
2019
263
2020
430
2021
287
2022
386
2023
428
2024
206
2025
392
2026
26

Keywords

KDE HN BTFS FOSS EOL is.gd GPL BECTL VIMAGE ZFS zfs btrfs linux kernel freebsd licensing distros filesystem support arch

Sample Comments

lloeki Sep 6, 2011 View on HN

I bet ZFS would already be there if not for license compatibility issues.

mikece Dec 19, 2025 View on HN

Why is ZFS/OpenZFS not used by (more) Linux distros?

ben_bai Apr 19, 2015 View on HN

ZFS is production ready. Use FreeBSD!

e12e Oct 28, 2020 View on HN

Why not? There's already support for zfs.

mnd999 May 25, 2016 View on HN

Strange there's no mention of FreeBSD's excellent ZFS implementation

cess11 Jun 17, 2024 View on HN

Just use ZFS with Linux? It's been available as kernel modules for I don't know how long.

ksec Apr 1, 2025 View on HN

It is more like the ZFS started supporting Linux, not FreeBSD uses Linux implementation.

DannoHung Feb 5, 2014 View on HN

Probably just due to the licensing issues surrounding zfs and linux.

charcircuit Apr 1, 2025 View on HN

Linux has ZFS too. FreeBSD actually switched over to using the Linux implementation a few years ago.

badrabbit Mar 28, 2023 View on HN

It might be due to licensing, even Linux went with btrfs (not sure if they mainlined zfs yet).