>  > > Also, if I ported ext2fs filesystem driver (that's a big if) from FreeBSD,
>  > > it would not go in the development tree because it is GPLed, right?
>  > 
>  > Probably, but I'd bet the OpenBSD folks would be interested in it ;-)
> 
> Make no mistake, NetBSD folks are interested in an ext2fs, as well.  
> However, for it to go into the tree, the licencing would have to be non-GPL.
> 
> ...now, if you were to make ext2fs an LKM, it would be possible to 
> distribute it separately from the rest of the kernel, and we could avoid 
> the GPL licencing nightmare.  (Yes, some will argue that LKMs should not 
> be optional, but IMO, if you want ext2fs, you'll just have to cope with 
> LKMs :-)
> 
> ...or, maybe you could talk to the Linux/ext2fs people, and work out some 
> sort of cooperation, licencing-wise.
> 
> ...or, you could go into turbo-hacking mode and re-implement the GPL'd 
> portions of ext2fs, and place the new code under acceptable licencing.  
> This requires more coffee and Thai food than the other options.
> 
> There are all sorts of possiblities.  The point is, explore all avenues 
> before assuming that "it would not go in the development tree".


Has anyone considered adapting the Lites ext2fs code to NetBSD?  If you
believe <http://www.cs.utah.edu/projects/flux/lites/html/ext2fs.html>, it
should be pretty easy.  They already claim to have a fsck_ext2fs and
mount_ext2fs that will work on NetBSD as well as FreeBSD.


Jeff Thieleke