Re: fat filesystem in debian package
Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 09:12:28PM +0000, Jean Darcoux wrote:
> > I just see this web page : http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp
>
> > I wonder if this mean that all software that implement FAT filesystem are
> > non-free (and not acceptable into Debian) ?
>
> No. Why would it? The FAT filesystem driver in the Linux kernel wasn't
> written by anyone who was bound by Microsoft's licensing terms.
On the web page Jean mentioned Microsoft asserts it has four
patents that are necessarily infringed by FAT filesystems.
At a glance they seem related to long/short filename conversion
like VFAT does.
I have no idea whether Linux' FAT support infringes on these patents,
but this definitely should be investigated.
Arnoud
--
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
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