From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.3 required=3.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS,USER_AGENT_SANE_1 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46107C606D4 for ; Tue, 9 Jul 2019 04:51:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29997214AF for ; Tue, 9 Jul 2019 04:51:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1725951AbfGIEvl (ORCPT ); Tue, 9 Jul 2019 00:51:41 -0400 Received: from outgoing-auth-1.mit.edu ([18.9.28.11]:48513 "EHLO outgoing.mit.edu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1725886AbfGIEvk (ORCPT ); Tue, 9 Jul 2019 00:51:40 -0400 Received: from callcc.thunk.org (guestnat-104-133-8-97.corp.google.com [104.133.8.97] (may be forged)) (authenticated bits=0) (User authenticated as tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU) by outgoing.mit.edu (8.14.7/8.12.4) with ESMTP id x694oKBg013059 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 9 Jul 2019 00:50:22 -0400 Received: by callcc.thunk.org (Postfix, from userid 15806) id 8B32242002E; Tue, 9 Jul 2019 00:50:20 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2019 00:50:20 -0400 From: "Theodore Ts'o" To: Valdis =?utf-8?Q?Kl=C4=93tnieks?= Cc: Alexander Viro , Greg Kroah-Hartman , linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, devel@driverdev.osuosl.org Subject: Re: Procedure questions - new filesystem driver.. Message-ID: <20190709045020.GB23646@mit.edu> Mail-Followup-To: Theodore Ts'o , Valdis =?utf-8?Q?Kl=C4=93tnieks?= , Alexander Viro , Greg Kroah-Hartman , linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, devel@driverdev.osuosl.org References: <21080.1562632662@turing-police> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <21080.1562632662@turing-police> User-Agent: Mutt/1.10.1 (2018-07-13) Sender: linux-fsdevel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org On Mon, Jul 08, 2019 at 08:37:42PM -0400, Valdis Klētnieks wrote: > I have an out-of-tree driver for the exfat file system that I beaten into shape > for upstreaming. The driver works, and passes sparse and checkpatch (except > for a number of line-too-long complaints). > > Do you want this taken straight to the fs/ tree, or through drivers/staging? How have you dealt with the patent claims which Microsoft has asserted[1] on the exFAT file system design? [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/mtl/exfat-licensing.aspx I am not making any claims about the validity of Microsoft's patent assertions on exFAT, one way or another. But it might be a good idea for some laywers from the Linux Foundation to render some legal advice to their employees (namely Greg K-H and Linus Torvalds) regarding the advisability of taking exFAT into the official Linux tree. Personally, 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 improvings its interoperability? (My personal opinion only.) Cheers, - Ted