Dear Maintainer,

Comparing /boot/config-* across recent backports (trixie) kernels:

  linux-image-7.1.3+deb13-amd64: CONFIG_NTFS3_FS=m          (modern driver present)
  linux-image-7.1.7+deb13-amd64: CONFIG_NTFS3_FS not set, CONFIG_NTFS_FS=m instead
  linux-image-7.1.8+deb13-amd64: same as 7.1.7

This looks like a regression: the modern ntfs3 driver (read/write, actively
maintained, enabled after the fix for #998627/#1000697) was replaced by the
legacy ntfs.ko driver (largely unmaintained, limited write support) between
7.1.3 and 7.1.7/7.1.8.

Effect: `mount -t ntfs3 ...` fails with "unknown filesystem type 'ntfs3'"
and `modprobe ntfs3` fails with "Module ntfs3 not found", since the .ko
is simply not built for these kernel versions.

uname -r: 7.1.8+deb13-amd64

Control: affects -1 src:util-linux
Control: retitle -1 trixie-backports: CONFIG_NTFS3_FS disabled, breaks ntfs mount

util-linux will change its config for *forky* (#1145441), but for
backports some solution will need to be found.

Best,
Chris

Hi,

One correction, this is not true, it is not the legacy implementation.
NTFS3 has actually become poorly maintined after it got accepted and
the ntfs driver itself was revamped completely and is a new
implementation, see
https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_7.1#New_NTFS_implementation

As Chris pointed out this will still have an impact on util-linux as
well, so we have to decide if the change should be rolled back for the
bpo kernels specifically and continue to ship ntfs3 as long it exists
in the kernel (though it has as well important yet unadressed issues),
or e.g. ntfs driver should get an alias for ntfs3 if ntfs3 is not
enabled or another solution needs to be implemented.

Regards,
Salvatore

Hi Salvatore,

Thanks a lot for the clarification and for looking into it — good to know
this is the new NTFS implementation rather than a regression to the old
legacy driver. I’ll test mounting with -t ntfs directly on 7.1.8 to see how
it behaves in practice, and stick with ntfs3 on 7.1.3 or ntfs-3g as a
fallback in the meantime.

Thanks again for the detailed explanation and for looking into the
util-linux impact as well.

Regards,



El El mar, 25 ago 2026 a las 12:09, Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org>
escribió: