exFAT is widely used for high capacity SD cards in cameras
Posted on 08/29/2019 6:34:29 PM PDT by dayglored
exFAT heading towards Open Invention Network's Linux System Definition
Microsoft has published the technical specification for exFAT, a file system widely used for removable storage devices.
exFAT is widely used for high capacity SD cards in cameras
exFAT stands for Extended File Allocation Table and is widely used for things like memory cards. It is the most recent iteration of Microsoft's FAT series, a simple file system that is lightweight but lacks the resiliency and security of file systems like NTFS.
The original FAT was used by DOS in the late 1970s. It was expanded to 8-bit, 16-bit, and then to FAT32, which allows a maximum disk size of 16TB and a maximum file size of 4GB. The 4GB restriction is a problem for things like high definition video, so exFAT was developed to remove this limit.
Microsoft has several FAT-related patents, and in 2009 took action against TomTom for infringement, a matter which was later settled out of court, but which signalled to the Linux community that FAT was not safe to use. Microsoft currently offers exFAT as a licensed technology and states that "more than 100 companies license exFAT." It is possible for Linux users to add exFAT support to their systems via FUSE or non-mainline code, however, it's all unofficial due to the patent situation.
Today's publication of the exFAT specification is the first stage in what Microsoft hopes will be its inclusion in the Linux kernel. The Windows giant says it will support the inclusion of exFAT in a future revision of the Linux System Definition published by the Open Invention Network (OIN). This would mean that the exFAT patent would be covered by the OIN patent non-aggression pact.
The initiative may have been sparked by a discussion on the Linux Kernel Mailing List here. A developer offered to upload an implementation of exFAT, causing a discussion about the patent issues. "If Microsoft is going to be unfriendly about not wanting others to use their file system technology by making patent claims, why should we reward them by making their file system better by improving its interoperability?" wrote Theodore Ts'o, a software engineer who is well known for Linux contributions.
Eventually Ky Srinivasan, general manager in the Enterprise Open Source Group at Microsoft, chipped in with "I have started an internal discussion on this," and perhaps today's announcement is the outcome.
The specification itself will be published here. ®
It still doesn't have ownership, or permissions (other than "R" for read-only), and only the most rudimentary concepts of organization.
But it's very lightweight, simple, and now -- this is the key benefit of exFAT -- it can store files bigger than 4GB, specifically up to 128 PB (yes, that's petabytes).
So the fact that Microsoft is promoting it outside a pure-Windows context is notable, and good.
No, no no, it would be “cross contamination”. lol
They are slowly trying to assimilate linux through the backdoor and will soon try to own a license over it all just because they happen to own a couple characters in the code associated with linux. Can they be trusted? NO, Would they try this? YES.
Watch, give it about 10 years...
FAT, exFAT … PFFFFFT
REAL Linux users prefer something more exotic - JFS or ext4
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Of course. But for portability (useful for storage in external devices) exFAT is very good, since it's supported in all operating systems (albeit via 3rd-party bolt-on drivers in Linux and MacOS).
exFAT is a very useful Least Common Denominator, if you will.
Abort, Retry, Fail?
Unlikely. No Linux user or developer (much less an IT person) in their right mind would substitute exFAT for the real filesystems used in Linux-land.
This is merely MS recognizing that exFAT is a good -- portable -- solution to a problem, and rather than have 3rd parties doing the porting, they might as well open it up themselves.
exFAT poses no threat to anything in Linux-land, or MacOS-land for that matter.
6 years ago she shut down all new content, claiming (rightfully and believably) that the privacy necessary for Groklaw's function was no longer possible with all the internet surveillance. The site's still available, thank God.
Ah, for the good ol' days.
MacOS supports exFAT natively, no third party driver required.
What MacOS doesn’t natively support due to MS proprietary BS as discussed in the article is NTFS.
I'm not too worried, at least in regard to exFAT and similar.
More hopefully, in another 10 years Microsoft will have been assimilated, or at least will be cooperative.
You're quite right, my error.
I'd say "Need more caffeine" but it's 10:20PM here, so maybe I should say "Need more sleep". :-)
I’m not so sure about that. I suspect it may be more Microsoft realizing with the increase in marketshare of non-Windows devices, especially in the back office, there may soon come a day when a competing filesystem starts becoming popular for external devices and MS has to try to implement it for Windows, something they usually fail miserably at. This would be a move to forestall that problem - just as their whole move to join the Linux ecosystem with their tools is a hedge against the spread of Linux in the back office.
Certainly a classic case of Law-fare.
It was good that the rent-seekers eventually got sent packing.
It WAS a daily thriller though...
[I still prefer Auto-Zone for car stuff as an outcome...]
But what would that be? The advanced filesystems like ext4, NTFS, APFS (and HPFS+), nevermind ReiserFS and others, are all far too different in complex ways for use as a portable filesystem. I deal with filesystem incompabilities every day.
Heck, even something relatively simple like configuring a common network drive, used by Windows, Mac, and Linux users, to both export over NFS and share over CIFS/SMB3.,x causes enough hiccups.
I view exFAT as a good-enough, stupid-but-effective, portable filesystem. And I think Microsoft is finally wising up to that realization. Because there's nothing else out there that can be made widely portable anywhere near as easily.
So I ask of your expertise here friend. Linux distros require that medium is formatted to FAT 32 when using windows to create a disc or thumb drive. Is that just because it is coming from and created with MS and easier to work with for the translation between the two?
Never mind... Sorry I missed this. this was my thinking too! lol
Thank you, That was what I was worried about.
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