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Microsoft introduced the New Technology File System (NTFS), a proprietary journaling file system, in Windows NT 3.1 in 1993. Since then, it replaced 1977's File Allocation Table (FAT) file system in all versions of Windows. Unlike FAT, which Microsoft would eventually open up for other users, NTFS has remained proprietary. That's made it difficult, but not impossible, to use in Linux.
Recently, Paragon Software announced it would port some of its NTFS driver software to the Linux kernel.
Open Source
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is a great upgrade to an exceptional cross-platform utility that’s easily worth the money, especially if you own the previous version 14, in which case this one’s free. The user interface is tastefully designed, with buttons for mounting, unmounting, verifying, or erasing the selected volume. For himself, Torvalds seems determined to find a high-performance, modern, and maintainable alternative to the old (2001 era) and rarely used ntfs implementation in the kernel. As long as Paragon is still willing to continue playing, it seems that it will eventually get there—maybe even catch up with the 5.15 kernel.
1999: Linux is benchmarked for the first against Windows NT in file serving. Linux wins. The Linux vs. Windows server operating system wars are on.
That was great… except the NTFS3 code was in no condition to be added to the kernel.
At 27,000 lines of code, it was much too large. As Linux kernel developer Nikolay Borisov wrote, 'So, how exactly do you expect someone to review this monstrosity?' There were other problems with the code, as well.
Still, there is a real need for this code. With NTFS support, Linux users can use attaching external NTFS drives or boot Windows PCs into Linux for troubleshooting.
True, there are Linux NTFS drivers, but they have fundamental problems. The NTFS-3G, which works with the filesystem in userspace (FUSE), is notoriously slow. The older Captive NTFS driver is more fully featured, but no longer maintained.
But Paragon has been slowly addressing these problems. After more than two dozen revisions, the code appears to be almost ready for prime time. But, as Linus Torvalds pointed out, it would help if Paragon would, you know, 'actually submit it.' And, 'Paragon should just make a git pull request for it.'
In other words, the current problems aren't so much technical as Paragon is still trying to wrap its mind around how Linux kernel developers work. Still, Paragon has finally confirmed that it 'will be maintaining this implementation,' but that 'we'll need several days to prepare a proper pull request before sending it to you.'
Torvalds welcomed this news, though warned: 'The one other thing I do want when there are big new pieces like this being added is to ask you to make sure that everything is signed-off properly, and that there is no internal confusion about the GPLv2 inside Paragon, and that any legal people, etc. are all aware of this all and are on board. The last thing we want to see is some 'oops, we didn't mean to do this' brouhaha six months later.'
Torvalds doesn't think this will happen, but the Linux kernel team has been unpleasantly surprised before.
When implemented, Paragon promises a fully functional NTFS Read-Write driver, which will work with all versions of NTFS and normal, compressed, and sparse files, and it supports journal replaying.
If everything goes well, this means Linux users can expect to finally have the ability to quickly read, write, and delete files on Windows NTFS systems in the Linux kernel version 5.15 by year's end. That will make many system administrators and technicians much happier.
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Paragon Software, in response to a nudge from Linux Torvalds, said it will submit a pull request for its NTFS driver for Linux.
The process of submitting a read-write NTFS driver for Linux was initiated by Paragon nearly a year ago, when it ran into complaints that its 27,000 line patch was too big to review.
Paragon resubmitted the code in more manageable chunks, but its less than complete understanding of the Linux kernel development process apparently continued, with Torvalds stepping in last month to point out that it was not enough to post the code to the fsdevel list – at some point the code would actually have to be submitted as a pull request.
It is too late for version 5.14 of the kernel, for which rc4 has just been released, but potentially could be included in version 5.15.
Paragon has now responded: 'Thanks for this clarification... this piece of information has not been really clear for us until now. We've just sent the 27th patch series which fixes to the buildability against current linux-next. And we'll need several days to prepare a proper pull request before sending it to you.'
Paragon Ntfs Alternative Download
Torvalds welcomed the news, though he seemed just a little wary, considering perhaps the company's lack of familiarity with the Linux development process, in case Paragon was also unfamiliar with the licensing requirements.
The original overlong Paragon patch was submitted for review in August 2020
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'The one other thing I do want when there's big new pieces like this being added is to ask you to make sure that everything is signed-off properly, and that there is no internal confusion about the GPLv2 inside Paragon, and that any legal people etc are all aware of this all and are on board. The last thing we want to see is some 'oops, we didn't mean to do this' brouhaha six months later,' Torvalds said.
He also observed that no code would be pulled until the merge window for 5.15 opens, which he said is 'about a month away.' The merge window opens for just a couple of weeks, with the following six to ten weeks devoted to fixing problems.
As for 5.14, Torvalds said: 'Nothing to see here, entirely normal rc4... mostly a very nice and flat diffstat.'
Paragon Ntfs Alternative Windows
If all goes according to plan, we can expect the Paragon NTFS driver to be in version 5.15 of the kernel for release towards the end of the year. ®