Reinventing the wheel is nothing new to Linux development. Part of creating an Open Source operating system is re-discovering — and in the case of patents, working around — what proprietary developers have already discovered and locked away.

HP thinks that's a shame, and they don't want to see Linux developers spend ages working out ways to bring Unix functionality to mainstream Linux. In order to speed the process up, the uber-manufacturer has donated AdvFS — acquired in 1998 by Compaq, which was itself acquired by HP in 2002 — to the Open Source community, releasing it under the GPLv2. HP says it isn't expecting developers to jump to port AdvFS for Linux, but rather to use it as a source of "treasure trove" from which "the jewels" necessary to coding features for other file systems can be obtained.