#Extfs wikipedia software

First implemented in 1992-only a year after the initial announcement of Linux itself!-ext solved the worst of the MINIX filesystem's problems.ġ992's ext used the new virtual filesystem (VFS) abstraction layer in the Linux kernel. While Linus hacked away on the fledgling Linux kernel, Rémy Card worked on the first ext filesystem. Linux clearly needed a better filesystem! ext In 1991, the typical hard drive was already 40-140MB in size. Like MINIX, it could uncharitably be described as a 'toy' example of its kind-the MINIX filesystem could handle filenames only up to 14 characters and address only 64MB of storage. By and throughout the 1990s, you could find MINIX installations thriving in universities worldwide-and a young Linus Torvalds used MINIX to develop the original Linux kernel, first announced in 1991, and released under the GPL in December 1992.īut wait, this is a filesystem article, right? Yes, and MINIX had its own filesystem, which early versions of Linux also relied on. Still, this was incredibly inexpensive for the time, and MINIX adoption took off rapidly, soon exceeding Tannenbaum's original intent of using it simply to teach the coding of operating systems.

The publishers of Tannebaum's book required a $69 license fee to operate MINIX, which was included in the cost of the book.

#Extfs wikipedia software

Welcome to the communityĪlthough you could peruse MINIX's source, it was not actually free and open source software (FOSS).