Linux's Modern NTFS Driver Preparing A "hidedotfiles" Option

Since NTFS3 was mainlined last year in the Linux kernel as a modern NTFS read/write file-system driver developed by Paragon Software, it's mostly just been some fixes since then and other minor updates. A new NTFS3 patch series sent out today is at least preparing a new feature for this kernel driver.

NTFS3 with today's patch series has a "hidedotfiles" option. The hidedotfiles patch series was authored by Konstantin Komarov of Paragon Software. With this, any files/holders beginning with a "." -- as is standard behavior for hidden folders under Linux systems -- will see the NTFS attribute of "FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN" set.

With Microsoft Windows not relying on "dot files" for hidden files/folders, it uses the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN file attribute for determining if something is hidden or visible. Thus when using a patched NTFS3 file-system driver (or when these patches are mainlined) and using the "hidedotfiles" mount option, it would basically set this file attribute for any files created under Linux with a dot, thereby preserving the same hidden intentions whether the file-system is mounted under Windows or Linux.

This "hidedotfiles" behavior isn't the proposed default but requires user opting into it if desiring that FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN be set for "hidden" dot files. The patch series is currently out on the mailing list while we'll see if he submits it as part of the upcoming v6.1 merge window.