Working on someone else's code is no fun. I do it, when I get paid properly, but can't say I enjoy it. So I understand that not everyone is enthusiastic about that gift.
And who needs it? There are alternatives to read or write the occasional file (e.g. if you happen to have forgotten the Admin's password) of a NT box, but I can't say that I missed the ability to create new files in a NTFS. And why now? Surely those who actually needed that functionality, needed it years ago and meanwhile found some other solution. Perhaps those who actually need it still volunteer to ready that driver for inclusion into the kernel or sponsor someone who can?
NTFS-3g can create files and directories etc. on NTFS (albeit it doesn't do journaling, that's why it requires you to have a clean journal). Having a proper kernel driver is mostly about performance, not features. The current built-in kernel driver for NTFS is completely read-only though.
> The current built-in kernel driver for NTFS is completely read-only though.
Not quite:
> CONFIG_NTFS_RW:
> This enables the partial, but safe, write support in the NTFS driver.
> The only supported operation is overwriting existing files, without changing the file length. No file or directory creation, deletion or renaming is possible. Note only non-resident files can be written to you may find that some very small files (<500 bytes or so) cannot be written to.
And who needs it? There are alternatives to read or write the occasional file (e.g. if you happen to have forgotten the Admin's password) of a NT box, but I can't say that I missed the ability to create new files in a NTFS. And why now? Surely those who actually needed that functionality, needed it years ago and meanwhile found some other solution. Perhaps those who actually need it still volunteer to ready that driver for inclusion into the kernel or sponsor someone who can?