diff --git a/core/CMakeLists.txt b/core/CMakeLists.txt
index cfed3dc..64c5020 100644
--- a/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ add_library(veloxcore STATIC
     src/net/probe.cpp
     src/io/sparse_file.cpp
     src/io/write_buffer.cpp
+    src/io/platform/linux/file_ops.cpp
     src/meta/veloxpart.cpp
     src/segment/segmenter.cpp
     src/segment/budget.cpp
diff --git a/core/src/io/platform/file_ops.hpp b/core/src/io/platform/file_ops.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..481ec52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/io/platform/file_ops.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// vdm/io/platform/file_ops.hpp — platform seam for the three Linux-only file-I/O
+// primitives sparse_file.cpp and meta/veloxpart.cpp use (ADR 0020, docs/08-porting.md).
+//
+// One implementation file per OS under platform/<os>/, selected at build time. No #ifdef
+// here, no OS-specific types in the signatures — a reader of the callers must not need to
+// know which OS they're on. Linux (platform/linux/file_ops.cpp) is the reference
+// implementation and is the only one that exists until the PORT lane adds macOS.
+//
+// This header compiles standalone.
+
+#ifndef VDM_IO_PLATFORM_FILE_OPS_HPP
+#define VDM_IO_PLATFORM_FILE_OPS_HPP
+
+#include <cstdint>
+
+#include "vdm/util/result.hpp"
+
+namespace vdm::io::platform {
+
+// Reserve `bytes` for `fd` so a large transfer doesn't fragment or hit ENOSPC mid-write.
+// Linux: posix_fallocate, falling back to ftruncate on EOPNOTSUPP/ENOSYS/EINVAL exactly as
+// SparseFile did before this seam existed. Returns whether a true extent-reserving
+// preallocation happened (false when the ftruncate fallback was used) so callers can keep
+// reporting SparseFile::preallocated() unchanged.
+[[nodiscard]] Result<bool> preallocate(int fd, std::uint64_t bytes);
+
+// Drop cached pages for [offset, offset+len) from the OS page cache, best-effort. A
+// platform with no equivalent (macOS) is a documented no-op, not a failure — never let
+// this block or fail the transfer path.
+void advise_dontneed(int fd, std::uint64_t offset, std::uint64_t len) noexcept;
+
+// Flush `fd`'s data to durable storage without waiting on metadata that doesn't affect
+// data readback. Linux: fdatasync.
+[[nodiscard]] Result<void> flush_durable(int fd);
+
+}  // namespace vdm::io::platform
+
+#endif  // VDM_IO_PLATFORM_FILE_OPS_HPP
diff --git a/core/src/io/platform/linux/file_ops.cpp b/core/src/io/platform/linux/file_ops.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28853bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/io/platform/linux/file_ops.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+// vdm/io/platform/linux/file_ops.cpp — Linux backend for the file_ops seam.
+//
+// Reference implementation (ADR 0020): moved unchanged from sparse_file.cpp and
+// meta/veloxpart.cpp. Linux behaviour must never change as a result of a port; if a port
+// needs a semantic change here, that's an ADR, not a seam edit.
+
+#include "io/platform/file_ops.hpp"
+
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <cerrno>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <string>
+
+namespace vdm::io::platform {
+namespace {
+
+Error errno_to_error(int e) noexcept {
+    switch (e) {
+        case ENOSPC:
+        case EDQUOT:
+            return Error::disk_full;
+        case EACCES:
+        case EPERM:
+        case EROFS:
+            return Error::permission_denied;
+        case ENOENT:
+        case ENOTDIR:
+        case EISDIR:
+        case ENAMETOOLONG:
+        case ELOOP:
+            return Error::path_rejected;
+        default:
+            return Error::io_error;
+    }
+}
+
+ErrorInfo sys_error(std::string_view what, int e) {
+    return ErrorInfo(errno_to_error(e), std::string(what) + ": " + std::strerror(e));
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+
+Result<bool> preallocate(int fd, std::uint64_t bytes) {
+    // posix_fallocate returns the error number directly and does not set errno.
+    int rc = ::posix_fallocate(fd, 0, static_cast<off_t>(bytes));
+    if (rc == 0)
+        return true;
+    if (rc == EOPNOTSUPP || rc == ENOSYS || rc == EINVAL) {
+        if (::ftruncate(fd, static_cast<off_t>(bytes)) != 0)
+            return sys_error("ftruncate", errno);
+        return false;
+    }
+    return sys_error("posix_fallocate", rc);
+}
+
+void advise_dontneed(int fd, std::uint64_t offset, std::uint64_t len) noexcept {
+    if (len == 0)
+        return;
+    ::posix_fadvise(fd, static_cast<off_t>(offset), static_cast<off_t>(len), POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED);
+}
+
+Result<void> flush_durable(int fd) {
+    while (::fdatasync(fd) != 0) {
+        if (errno == EINTR)
+            continue;
+        return sys_error("fdatasync", errno);
+    }
+    return ok();
+}
+
+}  // namespace vdm::io::platform
diff --git a/core/src/io/sparse_file.cpp b/core/src/io/sparse_file.cpp
index fb98210..00113b7 100644
--- a/core/src/io/sparse_file.cpp
+++ b/core/src/io/sparse_file.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 #include <cstring>
 #include <utility>
 
+#include "io/platform/file_ops.hpp"
+
 namespace vdm::io {
 namespace {
 
@@ -90,20 +92,12 @@ Result<void> SparseFile::open(std::string_view path, const OpenOptions &opts) {
     bool prealloc = false;
     if (opts.total_size > 0) {
         if (opts.preallocate) {
-            // posix_fallocate returns the error number directly and does not set errno.
-            int rc = ::posix_fallocate(fd, 0, static_cast<off_t>(opts.total_size));
-            if (rc == 0) {
-                prealloc = true;
-            } else if (rc == EOPNOTSUPP || rc == ENOSYS || rc == EINVAL) {
-                if (::ftruncate(fd, static_cast<off_t>(opts.total_size)) != 0) {
-                    int e = errno;
-                    ::close(fd);
-                    return sys_error("ftruncate " + p, e);
-                }
-            } else {
+            Result<bool> r = platform::preallocate(fd, opts.total_size);
+            if (!r.has_value()) {
                 ::close(fd);
-                return sys_error("posix_fallocate " + p, rc);
+                return std::move(r).error();
             }
+            prealloc = *r;
         } else if (!opts.truncate_existing) {
             // Resuming: make sure the file is at least total_size so pwrite offsets land.
             if (::ftruncate(fd, static_cast<off_t>(opts.total_size)) != 0) {
@@ -147,18 +141,13 @@ Result<void> SparseFile::write_at(std::uint64_t offset, ConstByteSpan data) {
 Result<void> SparseFile::sync() {
     if (fd_ < 0)
         return ErrorInfo(Error::internal, "sync on a closed SparseFile");
-    while (::fdatasync(fd_) != 0) {
-        if (errno == EINTR)
-            continue;
-        return sys_error("fdatasync", errno);
-    }
-    return ok();
+    return platform::flush_durable(fd_);
 }
 
 void SparseFile::advise_dontneed(std::uint64_t offset, std::uint64_t len) noexcept {
     if (fd_ < 0 || len == 0)
         return;
-    ::posix_fadvise(fd_, static_cast<off_t>(offset), static_cast<off_t>(len), POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED);
+    platform::advise_dontneed(fd_, offset, len);
 }
 
 Result<void> SparseFile::resize(std::uint64_t size) {
diff --git a/core/src/meta/veloxpart.cpp b/core/src/meta/veloxpart.cpp
index 0446788..0cd00bd 100644
--- a/core/src/meta/veloxpart.cpp
+++ b/core/src/meta/veloxpart.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <utility>
 
+#include "io/platform/file_ops.hpp"
 #include "vdm/util/crc32.hpp"
 
 namespace vdm::meta {
@@ -272,13 +273,11 @@ Result<void> write_veloxpart_file(std::string_view path, const VeloxPart &vp, bo
     }
 
     if (fsync) {
-        while (::fdatasync(fd) != 0) {
-            if (errno == EINTR)
-                continue;
-            int e = errno;
+        Result<void> r = vdm::io::platform::flush_durable(fd);
+        if (!r.has_value()) {
             ::close(fd);
             ::unlink(tmp.c_str());
-            return sys_error("fdatasync " + tmp, e);
+            return ErrorInfo(r.error().code, "fdatasync " + tmp + ": " + r.error().context);
         }
     }
     if (::close(fd) != 0) {