In its latest gesture to the open-source community, Microsoft Corp. today pledged to make its widely used exFAT file system available on Linux.

The software, which is also known as the Extended File Allocation Table, is one of the foundational but mostly invisible components underpinning the consumer technology ecosystem. It’s a data management layer that runs inside Windows and hundreds of millions of portable storage devices such as USB flash drives.

Linux has lacked native support for exFAT because the system is proprietary. As a result, users had to download software from external sources to perform the basic task of plugging a USB drive or camera SD card into their computers.

Microsoft is not releasing the exFAT source code as part of the push to add Linux compatibility. Instead, the company has published a technical specification that will enable the open-source community to create independent versions of the file system. 

“It’s important to us that the Linux community can make use of exFAT included in the Linux kernel with confidence,” John Gossman, a Microsoft distinguished engineer who represents the company on the Linux Foundation board, wrote in a blog post. “To this end, we will be making Microsoft’s technical specification for exFAT publicly available to facilitate development of conformant, interoperable implementations.”

Microsoft’s goal is to eventually make exFAT part of the Linux kernel. When that materializes, Gossman wrote, the company will support bringing the Linux kernel’s exFAT implementation under the wing of the the Open Invention Network. The Open Invention Network is an industry consortium that allows its members to share patents to protect themselves from intellectual property litigation.

Microsoft last year put the bulk of its 60,000-plus patent portfolio at the disposal of the group. More recently, the company brought its popular Visual Studio Code programming tool to Linux. Microsoft previously several made other once Windows-exclusive technologies available on the operating system, including its .NET development framework and PowerShell management software for system administrators. 

Photo: Microsoft