EXT3 File-System Driver To Be Removed From The Linux Kernel

With the EXT4 file-system having been stable for years as an evolutionary upgrade to EXT3, the EXT4 module supporting mounting EXT3 file-systems, and most (all?) Linux distributions having switched to EXT4 by default, there's now patches for removing the EXT3 file-system driver from the Linux kernel.

As the EXT4 file-system driver is backwards compatible with EXT3/EXT2 and supports mounting these earlier extended file-systems, dropping the EXT3 driver isn't being met with much criticism. Jan Kara of SUSE who had been maintaining the EXT3 code had sent out the three patches today for removing this file-system driver. EXT4 maintainer Ted Ts'o has already acknowledged the patch.

The patch series can be found on the kernel mailing list. Assuming no major objections come up, the EXT3 file-system driver will be dropped for the Linux 4.3 kernel.