Matthew Saltzman wrote:
I want a stable kernel and device drivers. The unix-like system call
interface doesn't need to change every week.
You've used similar phrases a few times in this and related threads, and
it prompts a question:
Is this hyperbole, or are you really suggesting that every time a new
kernel install requires a recompile of an external driver or binary
driver shim, that it's because the API has changed?
I had assumed the former, but the number of times you've said it has
made me start to wonder.
It's only hyperbole because I want to make the point that binaries could
work except that GPL fanatics don't want them to work and go out of
their way to make them difficult to use. In fedora, the interface
changes all the time at the binary level and driver modules try to work
around it by providing their own interface shims. The source level API
changes from time to time too, requiring matching changes in all the
modules. I tend to think of interfaces as contracts among programmers
that changes won't be made, so I'm not sure I'd really even call these
interfaces - the shims wouldn't be necessary if a real interface was
present. It's at least interesting to note that such changes don't
happen in RHEL during a release version, so it's not like the developers
don't understand the value of stability.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
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