Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 10:58:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> To: dillon@apollo.backplane.com (Matthew Dillon) Cc: phk@critter.freebsd.dk (Poul-Henning Kamp), mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith), jeremyp@gsmx07.alcatel.com.au (Peter Jeremy), cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, jkh@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/release/sysinstall tcpip.c Message-ID: <199907231758.KAA88548@gndrsh.aac.dev.com> In-Reply-To: <199907231747.KAA26657@apollo.backplane.com> from Matthew Dillon at "Jul 23, 1999 10:47:50 am"
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> > :> > :> I would advocate the ether_input API. I have never heard of a 3rd > :> party ethernet driver, and considering the number of changes we > :> introduce between 3.x and 4.x anyway, driver compatibility is > :> already pretty much shot anyway, so I think we should fix the > :> API to do it "right" rather than fight for a compatibility which > :> is at best of only marginal advantage to anybody. > : > :What about ET Inc's wan cards, if I recall Dennis screams everytime > :FreeBSD changes the network layer API. Though moving bpf up a layer > :would simplfy things for him in the long run (no reason to ship 2 > :driver .o files, one without BPF and one with), he'll still probably > :complain. > : > :These changes would probably effect all network devices... > : > :So there you have it, your never heard of 3rd party driver. > : > :-- > :Rod Grimes - KD7CAX - (RWG25) rgrimes@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net > > Well, this is for current, right? Meaningless, as -currents end up some day being -release, and that is when the third party is impacted. It may also impact them if they are supporting drivers under -current. These types of changes are one of the reason some people often have to stay behind the current release for an exteneded period while drivers get updated from third parties. I personally was stuck at 2.2 for a long time due to this issue :-(. > > I say that if we are going to make changes to the API that will make > writing device drivers easier in the long run, now is the best time > to do it. Though we agree on that point not all third parties may. Perhaps we should collect a list of them and see just how they feel about it, instead of shoving yet another change down thier throat. Atleast then we could not be accused of the later, as we would be informing them of the intent to change the API, and even offer them an advantage to simplier distribution maintenance due to reduction in compile time options. -- Rod Grimes - KD7CAX - (RWG25) rgrimes@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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