Then perhaps the experimental designation of ZFS in Ubuntu 25.04 is most likely the result of several interrelated considerations. First, interest among Ubuntu developers in maintaining full ZFS support appears to have waned as other priorities have taken precedence. Second, the current installer infrastructure is not optimized to accommodate ZFS’s specialised requirements. Third, because ZFS is not part of the mainline Linux kernel, Canonical must sustain an out of tree kernel module that requires constant updating to maintain compatibility with successive kernel releases. That obligation entails a significant and ongoing allocation of engineering resources. By labeling ZFS as experimental, Canonical preserves the freedom to scale back or withdraw support if the engineering effort fails to deliver an adequate return, without formally abandoning a feature valued by many users. Moreover, this approach limits reputational risk should Ubuntu fall behind FreeBSD in keeping pace with new ZFS developments.
