--- title: Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing... description: Linux 7.3's merge window continues a year-long trend of maintenance fixes for the legacy Apple HFS and HFS+ file-system drivers, which were nearly dropped in... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing Fixes With Linux 7.3 | daily.dev og:description: Linux 7.3's merge window continues a year-long trend of maintenance fixes for the legacy Apple HFS and HFS+ file-system drivers, which were nearly dropped in... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3kDnr5S9O.png og:image:alt: Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing Fixes With Linux 7.3 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing Fixes With Linux 7.3 **[Phoronix](https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Linux 7.3's merge window continues a year-long trend of maintenance fixes for the legacy Apple HFS and HFS+ file-system drivers, which were nearly dropped in early 2025 before volunteer maintainers stepped in. This cycle brings fixes for Syzbot-uncovered bugs and xfstest failures, a b-tree bitmap corruption check, validation improvements, logic refactoring, and KUnit test clean-up, even though Apple itself abandoned HFS in 2009 and HFS+ in 2017 in favor of APFS. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What HFS and HFS+ file-system fixes are included in the Linux 7.3 kernel merge window? Linux 7.3 includes several HFS/HFS+ fixes found through Syzbot fuzzing and xfstest testing, a b-tree bitmap corruption check, validation improvements, logic refactoring, and a clean-up for KUnit testing. These changes continue a steady stream of fixes that began after volunteer developers stepped up in 2025 to maintain code that was nearly dropped from the kernel. _daily.dev helps kernel contributors track ongoing subsystem fixes like these across merge windows._ ### Why did Linux almost drop support for Apple's HFS and HFS+ file-systems? The HFS and HFS+ drivers had been orphaned for over a decade and become a maintenance burden, leading to discussion in early 2025 about removing them from the kernel. Volunteer developers then stepped up to maintain the code, turning it into an ongoing effort with a steady flow of fixes landing in subsequent kernel releases, including Linux 7.3. _Follow legacy file-system maintenance stories like this one on daily.dev before they affect your setup._ ### When did Apple stop using HFS and HFS+ on macOS? Apple ended the original HFS file-system in macOS 10.6, released in 2009, and replaced HFS+ with the modern APFS file-system in 2017. Despite Apple no longer supporting these formats, the Linux kernel continues receiving fixes for HFS/HFS+ support for users who still need compatibility with older Apple-formatted drives. _daily.dev keeps developers who deal with legacy file formats current on kernel-side maintenance._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Apple HFS / HFS\+ File-System Support Seeing Many Fixes For Linux 7.1](https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-seeing-many-fixes-for-linux-7-1-earmavrem) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Apple HFS/HFS\+ File-System Drivers Receive Corruption Fixes & More For Linux 6.19](https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-drivers-receive-corruption-fixes-more-for-linux-6-19-joay19azk) · Phoronix · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux 7.1 brings new NTFS driver, Steam Deck OLED audio fix \+ more](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-1-brings-new-ntfs-driver-steam-deck-oled-audio-fix-more-jfil3igpw) · omg\! ubuntu\! · 17 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#filesystems](https://daily.dev/tags/filesystems) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing Fixes With Linux 7.3","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T19:07:05.687Z","dateModified":"2026-08-23T18:20:32.929Z","description":"Linux 7.3's merge window continues a year-long trend of maintenance fixes for the legacy Apple HFS and HFS+ file-system drivers, which were nearly dropped in...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZrL_HSsR--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2006","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Phoronix","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phoronix","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6a26ba379dd64932830aa0c9803dd7ee","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,apple,filesystems","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phoronix","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Continues Seeing Fixes With Linux 7.3"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-hfs-hfs-file-system-support-continues-seeing-fixes-with-linux-7-3-3kdnr5s9o#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What HFS and HFS+ file-system fixes are included in the Linux 7.3 kernel merge window?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Linux 7.3 includes several HFS/HFS+ fixes found through Syzbot fuzzing and xfstest testing, a b-tree bitmap corruption check, validation improvements, logic refactoring, and a clean-up for KUnit testing. These changes continue a steady stream of fixes that began after volunteer developers stepped up in 2025 to maintain code that was nearly dropped from the kernel. daily.dev helps kernel contributors track ongoing subsystem fixes like these across merge windows."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Linux almost drop support for Apple's HFS and HFS+ file-systems?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The HFS and HFS+ drivers had been orphaned for over a decade and become a maintenance burden, leading to discussion in early 2025 about removing them from the kernel. Volunteer developers then stepped up to maintain the code, turning it into an ongoing effort with a steady flow of fixes landing in subsequent kernel releases, including Linux 7.3. Follow legacy file-system maintenance stories like this one on daily.dev before they affect your setup."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"When did Apple stop using HFS and HFS+ on macOS?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Apple ended the original HFS file-system in macOS 10.6, released in 2009, and replaced HFS+ with the modern APFS file-system in 2017. Despite Apple no longer supporting these formats, the Linux kernel continues receiving fixes for HFS/HFS+ support for users who still need compatibility with older Apple-formatted drives. daily.dev keeps developers who deal with legacy file formats current on kernel-side maintenance."}}]} ```