[ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys

Thu Jul 30 13:18:21 CEST 2009

What about long file names? Can't we use something like that to work
around the patent?

Ged wrote:
> Who says it will only be included for compatibility?
>
> I don't see an open source NTFS being developed any time soon, if at all,
> and I'm not overly keen on all these unix file systems.
>
>  
>
> For the foreseeable future FAT is by far the best option for us. If we can
> add journaling then all the better.
>
> If we could also add optional ACL support without breaking compatibility
> when we'd have a pretty good file system to move forward with.
>
>  
>
> Ged.
>
>  
>
>  
>
> From: ShadowFlare [mailto:blakflare at gmail.com] 
> Sent: 30 July 2009 11:06
> To: ReactOS Development List
> Subject: Re: [ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys
>
>  
>
> What happens if another OS makes changes, not knowing about the journal?
> Does the journal need to be rebuilt (either partially or fully)?  FAT
> support would mainly be for compatibility with another OS, so it is pretty
> much certain that another OS would be writing files onto the file system.
>
>  
>
> Also, are there really any compelling reasons to add a ReactOS-only feature
> to a file system that later will be supported mainly only for compatibility?
>
>  
>
> -ShadowFlare
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 2:36 AM, Aleksey Bragin <aleksey at reactos.org> wrote:
>
> I'll explain the FAT journalling part, it's the idea I had for quite a
> while, and mainly it's just an experimental, fun idea.
>
> So far FAT provides no consistency of neither metadata nor actual data. In
> order to maintain consistency, the filesystem's integrity has to be verified
> and fixed at every boot if not clean shutdown is detected.
>
>  
>
> Now, if we add a special file, let's say our driver knows its placement for
> sure, and that file doesn't change size and is not movable, we can implement
> transactional writing of metadata to the FAT directory entries using this
> file as a journal.
>
> Advantages:
>
> - Compatibility with original FAT drivers (without journalling of course)
>
> - Metadata is always consistent (no need for a checkdisk).
>
> Disadvantages:
>
> - Please name them.
>
>  
>
> I suppose that's how ext3 was done from ext2. Why making the same from FAT
> would be a bad idea?
>
>  
>
> WBR,
>
> Aleksey Bragin.
>
>  
>
> On Jul 30, 2009, at 1:52 AM, Pierre SCHWEITZER wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
> "I'm still at a loss as to why you are all ignoring the free, open source,
> FastFAT driver in the Microsoft WDK.". Wasn't it some kind a license
> problem? EULA, or something like that? The question rose when ARM ninjas
> imported CDFS driver from the Microsoft WDK. They finally had to remove it.
> Anyway, that's not exactly the point.
>
> Regarding your initial question, for FSD an important part is missing in
> ReactOS: FsRTL package. Moreover, you may (or, you will?) have problems
> using CC package. But, that's a good point in fact. That way, we'll be able
> to implement/debug the needed functions, with test case.
>
> Finally, I'd like to come back on that idea: "During the conversation we
> also discussed implementing a special journaling extension to FullFAT via
> the windows driver.". I've to admit I don't see how it can be a good idea.
> IF everything goes well, ReactOS will be able to handle two journalised FS:
> NTFS and ext3. Those are known, and used FS. Why should we create a "super"
> FAT instead of using those FS? What about compatibilty?
> A better idea would to handle exFAT...
>
> Best regards,
> P. Schweitzer
>
>   _____  
>
> From: ionucu at videotron.ca
> To: ros-dev at reactos.org
> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:00:08 -0700
> Subject: Re: [ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys
>
> I'm still at a loss as to why you are all ignoring the free, open source,
> FastFAT driver in the Microsoft WDK.
>
>  
>
> On 29-Jul-09, at 10:56 AM, Gabriel ilardi wrote:
>
>  
>
> Hi James,
>
> Welcome to the team!
> ReactOS kernel aims to be compatible with W2k3's, meanwhile Win32 subsystem
> aims atm Vista.
> You'll come across missing stuff, just search for UNIMPLEMENTED throughout
> the code. Encoded started a page with missing functionality
> here:http://www.reactos.org/wiki/Missing_ReactOS_Functionality 
> Hope you have fun with ReactOS as much as we do...
>
> Gabriel ilardi.
>
>   
>> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:59:42 +0200
>> From: james at worm.me.uk
>> To: ros-dev at reactos.org
>> Subject: [ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys
>>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> I just thought I'd introduce myself. I am the author of a new FAT
>> implementation that was really designed for embedded systems. As such
>> it provides very good performance. (See www.fullfat-fs.co.uk).
>>
>> Fireball contacted me a few days ago to discuss the current
>> development of FullFAT, and since I have agreed to implement an IFS
>> driver based on FullFAT with a view to replacing the current
>> fastfat.sys implementation. During the conversation we also discussed
>> implementing a special journaling extension to FullFAT via the windows
>> driver.
>>
>> I hope to start work on this project in the next few weeks, and
>> further to this I would also like to help in some other areas of
>> ReactOS. I shall be taking a closer look at the ReactOS code over the
>> coming weeks, and will probably post some questions about various
>> aspects. I have just bought the Windows Internals, fifth edition
>> co-authored by Alex Ionescu, hopefully this will provide me with a
>> good overview of the Windows architecture etc.
>>
>> For complete Windows XP compatibility, just how much of the
>> implementation is currently missing from ReactOS?
>>
>> Nice to meet you all, and I hope to provide some good contributions to
>> ReactOS in the near future.
>>
>> James
>>
>> --
>> James Walmsley
>> ----------------------------------------
>> james at worm.me.uk
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Ros-dev at reactos.org
>> http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev
>>     
>
>
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>  
>
> Best regards,
>
> Alex Ionescu
>
>  
>
>  
>
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>
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