On 4/8/2015 10:34 AM, Edgecombe, Jason wrote: > Hi everyone, > > OpenAFS isn't the only open source file system that will be locked out of > Windows by Microsoft's new certification requirements. Quite a few of these > file systems rely on the FUSE interface. There seems to be a FUSE interface > for windows. I don't know if Microsoft would certify the shim-like interface > of FUSE, but I could see one of the open source foundations or big open > source companies, like RedHat, supporting the cost of certifying a FUSE > driver for windows. I'm thinking that the larger user-base of FUSE might > cause that to happen. I understand that OpenAFS has a neglected FUSE driver, > but I'm wondering if that's a workable option going forward. > > Thoughts?
I suspect that certifying FUSE would be quite a bit of effort. In the eight years that I have attended the IFS Plugfest events there has never been anyone testing a FUSE driver or another open source file system. The AFS redirector is a full fledged redirector because that is the only method of integrating with Windows with the same level of functionality that NTFS and CIFS have. Microsoft does support mini-redirector based file systems via Redirected Drive Buffering Subsystem (RDBSS). RDBSS and FUSE would both significantly limit the possible integration. Support for authentication group based token management, authentication group access via impersonation, support for roaming profiles and redirected folders, and network drive mapping and browsing are a few of the areas which would prove challenging if not impossible to implement via RDBSS or FUSE. I also doubt that Red Hat, which does not sign the Cygwin setup.exe, would be willing to sign a file system driver permitting third parties to ship plugins that bypass the Microsoft security model. Red Hat does not sign the setup.exe because putting Red Hat's name and signature on the executable would convey an association between Red Hat and the "community contributed executables" which are installed by it. See the recent discussion on the [email protected] mailing list: "Should cygwin's setup*.exe be signed using Sign Tool?". Jeffrey Altman
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
