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allo
Asked: 2023-09-12 01:54:54 +0800 CST

Does "btrfs filesystem defrag -c" (compress option) force compression?

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BTRFS with compression enabled uses a heuristic not to compress files that are not well compressible. Does compressing existing files with "btrfs filesystem defrag -c" also use the heuristic, or does it compress all files even if they are not well compressible?

compression

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    btrfs filesystem defrag -c seems to force compression, eventually flagging a file as non-compressible only if initial compression attempts were not fruitful and the filesystem was not mounted with compress-force.

    To prove that, I created a file having a first 1M incompressible data, followed by 128K of compressible data (ie: a text file). The file was stored in /tmp and copied to a btrfs mount point with various options:

    # compress=lzo: no actual compression
root@debian12:~# mount /dev/zvol/tank/vol1 /mnt/ -o compress=lzo
root@debian12:~# cp /tmp/random.img /mnt/
root@debian12:~# sync
root@debian12:~# compsize /mnt/random.img
Processed 1 file, 1 regular extents (1 refs), 0 inline.
Type       Perc     Disk Usage   Uncompressed Referenced
TOTAL      100%      1.1M         1.1M         1.1M
none       100%      1.1M         1.1M         1.1M

# compress=lzo + defrag: compressed, but 'm' (incompressible) flag set
root@debian12:~# btrfs filesystem defrag -c -r /mnt/
root@debian12:~# sync
root@debian12:~# compsize /mnt/random.img
Processed 1 file, 3 regular extents (3 refs), 0 inline.
Type       Perc     Disk Usage   Uncompressed Referenced
TOTAL       90%      1.0M         1.1M         1.1M
none       100%      1.0M         1.0M         1.0M
zlib        15%       20K         128K         128K
root@debian12:~# lsattr /mnt/random.img
---------------------m /mnt/random.img

# compress-force=lzo: some limited compression 
root@debian12:~# mount /dev/zvol/tank/vol1 /mnt/ -o compress-force=lzo
root@debian12:~# cp /tmp/random.img /mnt/
root@debian12:~# sync
root@debian12:~# compsize /mnt/random.img
Processed 1 file, 3 regular extents (3 refs), 0 inline.
Type       Perc     Disk Usage   Uncompressed Referenced
TOTAL       96%      1.0M         1.1M         1.1M
none       100%      1.0M         1.0M         1.0M
lzo         68%       88K         128K         128K

# compress-force=lzo + defrag: better compression and no 'm' flag
root@debian12:~# compsize /mnt/random.img
Processed 1 file, 3 regular extents (3 refs), 0 inline.
Type       Perc     Disk Usage   Uncompressed Referenced
TOTAL       90%      1.0M         1.1M         1.1M
none       100%      1.0M         1.0M         1.0M
zlib        15%       20K         128K         128K
root@debian12:~# lsattr /mnt/random.img
---------------------- /mnt/random.img
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