On Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 06:24:01PM +0000, Lynn David Newton wrote:
> 
> I just discovered a 33MB file in my root directory
> named /.journal, dated March 26 of this year, which
> would have been about the time I upgraded to RH 7.2
> (from 7.1) which is probably also the time I converted
> to ext3 filesystems.

Yes, it is where the ext3 journal is located.  There is such
a file on each ext3 filesyste, though its size depends on the
fs size and usually it's invisible (has no directory entry.)

>From the ext3 faq:
> Q: How do I convert my ext2 partition to ext3? (was: How do I use ext3?)
> Before you can mount a partition as ext3 you have to create a journal on
> it. The easiest way to do it is to type:
> 
>     tune2fs -j /dev/hdaX
> 
> This can be done on an unmounted or on a mounted filesystem. If you
> create the journal on a mounted filesystem you will see a .journal file.
> Don't try to delete this and don't back this up or restore it from
> backup! If you run tune2fs -j on an unmounted partition an unvisible
> journal file will be created.
> Now you can mount the filesystem as ext3 using:
> 
>     mount -t ext3 /dev/hdaX /mnt/somewhere
> 
> With mke2fs -j /dev/hdaX you can format a partition as ext3 (as always
> it will be also usable as ext2 partion).

-Dale