Google adds ext file system support to Chrome OS after criticism

Google has decided to integrate components for the Linux file systems ext2, ext3, and ext4 back into the beta code of its Chrome OS operating system. The move follows a wave of criticism over the Chrome OS developers’ earlier intention to remove the code.

Chrome OS is an operating system built on top of the Linux kernel. Google, together with various electronics manufacturers, is bringing more and more Chromebooks to the market, whereby Chrome OS can also handle external hard drives and other storage media that are formatted with the ext2, ext3 or ext4 file system. However, developers working on Chrome OS on behalf of Google have suggested removing support for these Linux file systems. They would have trouble writing scripts that can successfully mount external drives with ext format in the Files application.

While plans to phase out support for the Linux filesystems had been on the Chromium website for some time, it wasn’t until a week ago that a storm of criticism over the plans arose after several web postings. Some Linux users found it incomprehensible that developers who base their own OS on Linux want to delete the most widely used file system on Linux and threatened to boycott Chrome OS.

The Chrome OS developers seem shocked by the criticism and have meanwhile announced that they will still include support for ext2, ext3 and ext4 file systems in the operating system. Support should be restored in the next stable release.