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Samsung has released software that could help a brand new class of storage devices work with Linux-based smartphones and computers.
Made late last week, the code release is the result of a mini-saga involving Samsung and the open source software community. It might never have happened -- at least not officially -- if not for an anonymous hacker who calls herself "rxrz."
Samsung's code was written to work with Samsung's Android smartphones and tablets. It lets them read files that use a new Microsoft filesystem called ExFAT, but it also contained a fatal flaw. It used snippets of code that had been written for Linux, and Linux's GPL (Gnu General Public License) forces anyone who uses the Linux code to share their own changes with everyone else.
Samsung wasn't doing that. But then, last spring, a strange thing happened. Someone posted Samsung's source code to GitHub, and a few months later, "rxrz" anonymously re-posted the ExFAT code, saying that it was now freely reusable under the terms of the GPL.
At the time, software experts said that this ExFAT Robin Hood -- she told us that she was a 19-year-old college student based in Europe -- really had no business releasing someone else's code under the GPL, but the gesture clearly caught Samsung's attention.
The company worked with a free software advocacy group -- the Software Freedom Conservancy 1 -- to put itself in compliance with the GPL. And now it has done so, releasing its code on Samsung's website.
The Conservancy said it "is delighted that the correct outcome has been reached: a legitimate, full release from Samsung of all relevant source code under the terms of Linux's license," according to a post on the group's website.
"After discussing with multiple open source organizations and getting their thoughts on this matter, we proceeded with the code release," said Ibrahim Haddad, the head of Samsung's open-source innovation group, in an email interview. "We take our responsibility to abide by open source licenses seriously and recognize the value that open source software brings to our products."
The code may help some device makers build systems that work with Microsoft's filesystem, but it's hardly a complete victory for the free software community. Microsoft holds a number of patents that cover ExFAT, so anybody who wants to use this code will need to have a patent license from Microsoft, or run the risk of a lawsuit.
1Correction 1:40om EST 08/20/13: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Software Freedom Conservancy.
