Re: [ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys

[Pierre Schweitzer]

OK, you answered one of my questions regarding journal.
But some are still pending:
- How to be sure log won't be deleted by user? What if he cleans root dir 
(in the same time, you'll have deletion of the log file and its 
modification)?
- In case you've a power failure, when you was under ReactOS and making some 
file operations, log should be then used. But, if you restart using Windows, 
and dealing with concerned files?
It looks a bit like Microsoft NTFS driver and ntfs-3g driver. But, with less 
securities. With ntfs-3g, in such cases, faulty, the driver don't mount the 
volume to avoid damaging data, corrupting the volume, etc. Here, as the 
Microsoft fastfat isn't designed to handle such cases, it could produce 
really bad effects.
Definitely, that mustn't be a priority and must be kept as an improvement 
when ReactOS will match Windows and will be stable.

Best regards,
P. Schweitzer

--------------------------------------------------
From: "James Walmsley" <james(a)worm.me.uk>
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 1:11 PM
To: "ReactOS Development List" <ros-dev(a)reactos.org>
Subject: Re: [ros-dev] FullFAT replacement for Fastfat.sys

> >   Importing
> > FullFat (even if it requires changes, like converting to kmode) 
> >  is
> >  still WAY faster than developing a new one, based on MS sample code. As 
> >  we
> >  know, FullFat already works, so the testing procedure would be 
> >  significantly
> >  shorter, compared with the one being written from scratch. 
>  FullFAT has already been used by some major embedded projects, Renesas
>  have included it
>  with their own development environment for all their customers.
>
>  Similarly a major development framework for Analog Devices Blackfin
>  processors have also adopted
>  FullFAT as a standard part of their library.
>
>  FullFAT is well tested already, and I intend to write the driver in a
>  way that fixes to problems can easily
>  be synchronised between the Windows FullFAT driver and the standard
>  general purpose driver.
>
> >   Finally, FullFat
> >  author agreed on colaborating, effectively helping out with the 
> >  adaptation
> >  process. For the new fat driver, we`d still require at least developer,
> >  either someone from ReactOS team or outsider.
> >  Again, i dont see developers hanging around, waiting to do anything for
> >  ReactOS. 
>  In the last year I have gained a substantial interest for Windows
>  internals, particularly
>  kernel mode stuff, and see working with ReactOS as a great opportunity
>  to work with
>  some really smart people, and further my own knowledge and ideas.
>
> >   So its a choice of ready, funcitoning code and
> > tested, that needs to be
> >  adopted, as well as a new developer, eager to help us out. On the other
> >  side, there is only a reference MS code, that potentially (even if we`ll 
> >  be
> >  able to actually write a new FAT driver and test it) someone could use as 
> >  an
> >  excuse to question the new driver and spread FUD about its similarity to 
> >  MS
> >  code. 
>  FullFAT will also implement a build-option that removes the FAT patent 
>  issues.
>  This is based on the linux patch, for details see:
>
>  http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/26/313
>
>  I think that FullFAT works quite well already, and is 100% my own code
>  from scratch.
>  When ReactOS use this code, then there can be no uncertainty about its
>  legitimacy.
>
>
>  Also addressing the questions regarding a journaling system, we can
>  simply have the driver
>  create a ROS.journal file in the root dir. This file won't mean
>  anything to other systems,
>  and will simply be ignored. Causing no compatibility issues. If
>  another system messes up the
>  FAT table or directory structures thats not the fault of ReactOS, and
>  would require a full chkdsk.
>
>  I think the journal stuff would be something we can add once I have
>  FullFAT fully integrated and its working.
>
>  Thanks for the input,
>
>  James
>
>  -- 
>  James Walmsley
>  ----------------------------------------
>  james(a)worm.me.uk
>
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