In a recent update to the code base for the Linux 6.9 kernel, the Ext2 filesystem has been marked as deprecated. This decision was made due to the fact that support for only 32-bit time meters in inode will become overwhelmed on January 19, 2038. To address this issue, it is recommended that Ext2 users switch to using the EXT4 driver, which is fully compatible with Ext2 and does not face the 2038 problem if the filesystem is created with an inode size of more than 255 bytes.
Ext2 users are advised to check the inode size used on their systems. The default mkfs.ext2 utility was updated to use 256-byte inodes starting with version 1.46.5 (included in Ubuntu 22.04). Previously, users could increase the inode size using the command “sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | grep “Inode size”.”
Theodore Ts’o, the creator of EXT2/3/4 filesystems, highlighted the simplicity of Ext2 as a reason for its continued relevance, especially in resource-constrained environments. He also mentioned that transitioning Ext2 to support 64-bit times is a feasible task.