Fedora 21 Aims To Have LBZIP2 Replace BZIP2

Fedora developers are eyeing the independent lbzip2 compression implementation to become the default bzip2 on the next release of this Red Hat sponsored Linux distribution.

Fedora developers behind this feature request are wanting to replace bzip2 with lbzip2 due to its multi-threaded support, improved performance even for single-core systems, improved extra utilities, and better compatibility with gzip. However, not everyone is happy with lbzip2 potentially using greater amounts of system memory, there not being any library interface to lbzip2 (the response to which is lbzip2 would be the replacement just on the command-line), and other potential complications.

Those interested in more details about the lbzip2 plans for Fedora 21 can find more information on this Fedora Wiki proposal page and the resulting mailing list discussion with views on both sides of the table.

Fedora 21 is due for release in late 2014 and already has a ton of new features pending.