Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

exFAT in the Linux kernel

cloudblogs.microsoft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 280 posts

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#11

Post by fooker »

garaetjjte wrote: post #9
hnarn wrote: post #3

I don't mean for this question to sound inflammatory but I can't help but think: why does this matter? You can already use exFAT on Linux via FUSE, and as pointed out by VentureBeat: > To be clear, Microsoft isn’t open-sourcing exFAT — but it is making sure anyone building with Linux can use it. 'It’s important to us that the Linux community can make use of exFAT included in the Linux kernel with confidence.' exFAT i…

FUSE is very slow compared to kernel module.

Citation needed.

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#12

Post by taffer »

jdsully wrote: post #4

The big deal here is the patent grant. FAT related patents were held over linux like a gun in the Ballmer years. Its a reason Linux was stuck with 8.3 length filenames for so long.

Aren't the FAT patents about to expire anyway?

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#13

Post by WorldMaker »

gvb wrote: post #7
hnarn wrote: post #3

I don't mean for this question to sound inflammatory but I can't help but think: why does this matter? You can already use exFAT on Linux via FUSE, and as pointed out by VentureBeat: > To be clear, Microsoft isn’t open-sourcing exFAT — but it is making sure anyone building with Linux can use it. 'It’s important to us that the Linux community can make use of exFAT included in the Linux kernel with confidence.' exFAT i…

According to John Gossman "Microsoft Distinguished Engineer & Linux Foundation Board Member" in a related announcement, Microsoft plans to contribute it to the Linux kernel: We also support the eventual inclusion of a Linux kernel with exFAT support in a future revision of the Open Invention Network’s Linux System Definition, where, once accepted, the code will benefit from the defensive patent commitments of OIN’s 3…

Most of the major Linux distributions are directly members or licensees of the OIN already. It looks like any distribution that isn't can get a license by filling out a form, no money needed and royalty-free.

To my reading, the OIN is a "mutually assured destruction" organization for patents around Linux that owns some of the patents outright and basically tries to insure that if any member sues another member or licensee over any of their patents the OIN itself and all the other members should band together and counter-sue over the remainder of the patents. It seems an interesting nuclear option to protect Linux from patent lawsuits.

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#14

Post by WorldMaker »

taffer wrote: post #12
jdsully wrote: post #4

The big deal here is the patent grant. FAT related patents were held over linux like a gun in the Ballmer years. Its a reason Linux was stuck with 8.3 length filenames for so long.

Aren't the FAT patents about to expire anyway?

Some of the earliest ones, surely, but presumably Microsoft also continued to patent later innovations: all of the "extended" in ExFAT.

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#17

Post by mackman »

fooker wrote: post #11
garaetjjte wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FUSE is very slow compared to kernel module.

Citation needed.

I’ve been building SD card based Pi devices and the limiting factor in IO perf is the FUSE exFat implementation. There’s a leaked Samsung internal implementation that is over 2x as fast in my benchmarks. I can’t attest whether it’s the fact it’s FUSE or just other performance optimizations that is the reason though.

Re: exFAT in the Linux kernel

#20

Post by gregkh »

hnarn wrote: post #3

I don't mean for this question to sound inflammatory but I can't help but think: why does this matter? You can already use exFAT on Linux via FUSE, and as pointed out by VentureBeat: > To be clear, Microsoft isn’t open-sourcing exFAT — but it is making sure anyone building with Linux can use it. 'It’s important to us that the Linux community can make use of exFAT included in the Linux kernel with confidence.' exFAT i…

It will be in the "real" kernel soon, here is a patch I submitted adding it: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20190828160817.6250-1-gregkh@li...

And yes, this is _much_ better than using a FUSE interface to the filesystem.

Post reply on HN