Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2002 14:34:34 -0400 From: Garance A Drosihn <drosih@rpi.edu> To: Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com>, Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: Will Andrews <will@csociety.org>, Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org>, arch@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Avoiding unnecessary breakage (was Re: Removing wait union) Message-ID: <p05111724b922b2b4d44b@[128.113.24.47]> In-Reply-To: <200206041752.NAA08182@rodney.cnchost.com> References: <200206041752.NAA08182@rodney.cnchost.com>
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At 10:52 AM -0700 6/4/02, Bakul Shah wrote: >Most systems companies understand the software they sell (and >around which their customers and 3rd party vendors add much >more software) exists to solve customers' problems and >breaking interfaces DOES NOT help that cause. ... Most system companies who SELL software are also PAYING their employees to work on that software. >Such an entity seems to be missing in the FreeBSD camp (and >others too but we are only talking about FreeBSD here). >Comments? Note that some of the changes we are talking about are being done to conform to standards. It isn't just "random bit rot", it is fixing things to follow standards as those standards are agreed upon. The idea of standards is to make it easier to port an application between operating-systems. And some of the changes are to correctly handle new platforms. We (FreeBSD) could certainly expend more effort to try to make these transitions go smoother. However, to do that would require more effort, and someone who is willing to volunteer to do that extra effort. I realize it's a hassle when programs have to be changed to match these standards-related system changes, but I'm kind of annoyed that people characterize these changes as if they are rash, meaningless changes. It's very easy to keep interfaces consistent if you're not doing anything. It's tougher when you're trying to shoot at several different targets, all of which are moving as you're shooting at them. You have a limited resource (the people volunteering to work on FreeBSD), and you're trying to get the most out of that, without discouraging people so much that they just leave. I hope this is not sounding too sarcastic, because I do agree with the general idea that we should "avoid unnecessary breakage". It is pretty easy to say that, but it is hard to actually do it, while still moving the operating system forward. -- Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@gilead.netel.rpi.edu Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message
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