HACKER Q&A
📣 gry_gh

Wish Linux tmpfs support compression option


I run lots of unprivileged containers, and apps inside create tons of temporary files. tmpfs is perfect for this (easy to mount in unprivileged containers). Adding a compression feature would help a lot.

zram needs root to manage. mkfs.btrfs setup feels way too heavy for what is basically “compressed /tmp”.

Why has tmpfs never gotten an official compression feature?


  👤 stop50 Accepted Answer ✓
I would guess its because it is an vital system. Initrd depends on it, a lot of paths are backed by tmpfs, ... An error in that subsystem could make it unbootable