canonical / canonical/multipass
Reconsider virtio-fs support
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
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Description
**What are you trying to do?**
Currently mounting directories that get even modest activity make the entire system unusably slow.
**What's your proposed solution?**
Allow the possibility of activating `virtio-fs` for those environments that support it - like ubuntu (and mac apparently?).
**Additional context**
You [rejected this](https://github.com/canonical/multipass/issues/2735) back in 2022 and then [closed the related](https://github.com/canonical/multipass/issues/1759) ticket as "fixed"... But it's still horribly slow. Research suggests `virtio-fs` might well significantly improve the situation. My personal experience is that this is *significantly* worse than WSL2 - so if Ubuntu can't do better on Ubuntu then that would really be a great shame.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reviewing the earlier issues linked in the description, especially #2735 and #1759, then investigate how Multipass currently mounts directories in the affected Ubuntu and macOS environments. Done would require a supported virtio-fs approach with its platform constraints, implementation scope, and a way to verify that directory activity no longer causes the reported slowdown.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- macos, ubuntu
- Domain
- infrastructure, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100