Hi,
Jan Kratochvil <rcpt-ros-kernel.AT.reactos.com_at_jankratochvil.net> wrote:
> As GPLed Linux-NTFS still has no NTFS r/w capability I completed the
> project for reliable r/w access in Wine way by using MS-Windows
> ntfs.sys driver.
The goal of the Linux-NTFS project is the provide completely open source
code to access, manage NTFS filesystems, not only r/w access whatever way.
It's a big difference. There is already a full r/w driver for Linux by
Paragon for a while - although it costs money but it doesn't have legal
threats.
Why the open source write capability isn't achieved? In short, no active
development for over a year and before that the code base was completely
rewritten, after former developer(s) stopped working on it 3-4 years ago.
Otherwise write access is pretty close, I'd say 2-4 months hard work (if
one isn't familiar with NTFS that's another 1-3 months).
> There are rumours GPL may be problem for linking with proprietary code
> (ntfs.sys&ntoskrnl.exe)
>From GPL point of view I don't think so. But I could imagine one isn't
allowed to use ntfs.sys, ntoskrnl.exe the way he/she wants legally. They
need to be checked (plus consider what's legal today can be illegal
tomorrow, so keep checking).
Or just ask Microsoft. At the same time you could also ask if they have
patents on NTFS. I couldn't find any contrary to the rumours.
There was a fuss years ago about Microsoft wanted to sue Linux NTFS
developers, but the fact seems to be Microsoft threatened only Jeff V.
Merkey because he had signed NDA with Microsoft, still he was developing
and distributing NTFS tools for Linux. Microsoft denied all of this
publicly. You can google up the full story but IMHO it's better just to
ask Microsoft.
Szaka
