I've been messing around with XFS, JFS, EXT3 and ReiserFS. Performance seems pretty similar between XFS, JFS and EXT3 when using default settings. However, ReiserFS seems to use much less processor power when used on a loopback device. I have discovered using the "notail" and "noatime" options for ReiserFS get rid of the risk of crashing... the problem is that using "notail" means that ReiserFS can no longer pack files tail-to-tail, which is used to improve space usage efficiency (at a cost of slower performance and greater CPU utilisation). I think it was this greater CPU utilisation that caused it to kernel panic. Instead of Home taking ~2.3GB, it now takes ~2.7GB with exactly the same files, but it feels FAR more responsive than with EXT3.

I'll run some more tests (currently compiling glibc - which resulted in a 100% chance of OOPSing in all previous tests). I'll then try compiling Xorg 7.0 - if all goes well, I'll be releasing new versions of Home, Pro, Sparkle and Resctoox again (sorry!). I will probably increment releases by a whole number so as to avoid confusion.