On 7/21/2013 8:24 PM, Andrei Frumusanu wrote:
Hello,
It has come to my attention that a recent internal leak of Samsung's
kernel-space exFat driver implementation has been making the rounds
around the web. Nothing we can do about that, what is out, is out.
However a certain user "rxrz" went a bit too far with his actions:
https://github.com/rxrz/exfat-nofuse
He basically has stripped the original code clean of all Samsung
proprietary license marks and threw GPL tags on it.
When confronted with the issue; he came with the most unbelievable
retort: https://github.com/rxrz/exfat-nofuse/issues/5
This went as far as being posted on Phoronix as a legitimate driver:
http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?81642-Native-Linux-Kernel-Module-Is-Out-For-Microsoft-exFAT
Clearly this is a breach of the most severe matter. Samsung has been
made aware of it, but there has been no response on the matter yet. I
expect nothing less than a DCMA takedown of the repository.
"It's a leaked code of a proprietary exfat driver, written by
Samsung, Inc. It works, you can use it. What else do you want, a
signed paper from your parents on whether you can or can not use it?
I'm a programmer, not a lawyer. You got the code, now decide what to
do with it, it's up to you."
What is wrong with such persons? This is insane.
Andrei F.
I first learned of this driver from Phoronix, a Linux tabloid with very
low journalistic integrity. From the beginning, I was a little suspicious.
rxrz wanted us to believe that he was able to single-handedly create or
reverse engineer a kernel-space driver when nobody else in the desktop
Linux or Android developer circles had previously been able to do so,
even with group effort. No matter what has been claimed on this list or
elsewhere, everyone uses the shipped binary modules or FUSE.
Then there were the initial uploads with not much being changed
afterwards and little collaboration.
Okay, that happens sometimes. That's not incriminating on its own.
But wow, the guy outright admits that the code came from Samsung and
asserts that he was in the right to do so. I find it unlikely that
Samsung could publish the code (as GPL or proprietary) or public domain
it even if they wanted to. Microsoft has always insisted that they have
tight control over exfat and the exorbitant license fees have served to
ensure this.
I regret ever mentioning his repo on this list in a positive light, but
I'm glad it's all being taken care of now.
- Eric Appleman
