VDO Device-Mapper Deduplication and Compression Target
VDO (Virtual Data Optimizer) is a software block-layer feature that sits on top of any storage device and transparently deduplicates and compresses the data written to it. Originally developed by Permabit, acquired by Red Hat in 2017, and merged into the mainline kernel in 6.9 (2024), it is commonly used on enterprise Linux to shrink the footprint of VM images, container storage, and backups.
This is not actually a hardware driver directory; it is a device-mapper target that provides inline deduplication and compression as a pure-software storage feature. It is a recently merged, actively maintained Red Hat component and the question of hardware obsolescence does not apply.
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109files
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23authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 186 total · active in 22/61 months
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codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not a driver directory: dm-vdo is a device-mapper VDO software block target (dedupe/compression), not kernel-bound hardware driver code.