[Linux-7110-psion] PATCH to access old-style FAT fs

[Frodo L. <fr...@dd...>]

Hi folks,

I have created and attached a new version of my old-style FAT filesystem
patch, this time for the 2.6.0 kernel. It can also be found on
http://debian.frodo.looijaard.name/. 

Some old implementation of the FAT standard mark the end of the
directory file index by inserting a filename beginning with a byte 00.
All entries after it should be ignored, even though they are not marked
as deleted. At least some EPOC releases (an OS used on Psion PDAs, for
example) still use this policy.

The included patch adds the `oldfat' mount option for FAT-based
filesystems. Without it, doing an 'ls' on old-style FATs will show a lot
of garbage, both old files that have been deleted, and bogus entries
that have never been filled.

If you do not use the `oldfat' mount option, FAT filesystems should work
exactly as before. I have been very careful not to change the logic of
the FAT driver, in order not to break anything. In fact, the patch could
probably be optimized a bit, but I wanted to keep it as risk-free as
possible.

It should be safe to mount a normal FAT filesystem with the `oldfat'
mount option. I have been doing that on and off with some local Win98
filesystems without any trouble. Actually, the only reason I have
introduced the mount option is to keep the new logic strictly seperated
from the old driver.

All feedback would be very welcome. This patch is released under the
GPL. Feel free to include it in stock kernels.

Debian users can install the .deb on http://debian.frodo.looijaard.name
and have the patch applied automatically when compiling 2.6.x kernels.

Thanks,
  Frodo

-- 
Frodo Looijaard <fr...@dd...>  PGP key and more: http://huizen.dds.nl/~frodol
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