[maemo-community] Get the FAT Out

[From: Erik Hovland]

>> After the TomTom noise, I wonder if there is any plan to get FAT usage
>> out of maemo. At least as the default operating system.
>
> That doesn't really make much sense.

Sorry, you're right it doesn't make much sense.

Let me say what a moments more of thought would have had me write.

I wonder if there is any plan to get FAT usage out of maemo. At least
as the default filesystem for the removable flash storage. People
could still use FAT. But it wouldn't be the first choice for maemo.

> The default filesystem in Maemo 4 is JFFS2, which is being replaced in
> Maemo 5 by UBIFS.

You are definitely right.

> Finally, these questions involve lawyers, and I'd request that you do
> us all a favor and not bring it up in a community environment. Some of
> us have to deal with lawyers more often than we like while working on
> Maemo, and don't need the community giving us more headaches.

Wow, strong statement. If I had known that lawyers inspired such scorn
in you, I likely would have probably poised the issue differently.

> Note: FAT is the only interoperable file system for a number of
> platforms. This is why most USB Mass Storage
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_mass_storage_device_class>
> implementations use it.

I agree that FAT currently rules. But there is no technical reason for
it to be king. Only inertia and tradition. There are literally dozens
of other filesystems. Now there is a pretty significant reason to not
consider using FAT.

> Alternatively, I can unsubscribe from this list and recommend that all
> other Nokians follow suit. You *really* don't want to ask employees
> who are trying to contribute to be forced to contact lawyers before
> they join lists, read them, or contribute. And as to threats, there
> are definitely cases where companies have ordered employees to either
> leave lists or not join them because of lawyers.

Once again, I think you are overreacting. But you are welcome to your opinion.

E

-- 
Erik Hovland
erik at hovland.org
http://hovland.org/