Talk:File system driver

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[edit] Windows concept

Is this a purely Windows concept? If so, that should be stated. If not, need some other examples. Richard Pinch 17:57, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Depends on how you interpret the title. Strictly, the word "driver" generally refers to a device driver; however, file systems are not generally considered to be devices.

Windows (and potentially OS/2) abstractly use the term "driver" for referring to all kernel-level modules, hence the name. Analogous modules are also used by essentially all other operating systems, but they are not generally called "drivers", but merely loadable kernel modules that implement a file system. Users who come from the Windows world sometimes misleadingly transfer the term to other operating systems.

In short: the concept is shared across operating systems whereas the term is primarily a Windows heritage. In more strict contexts, Windows and OS/2 use the term Installable File System. -- intgr 19:55, 4 March 2007 (UTC)