From owner-freebsd-current Wed Dec 8 12:51: 6 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mass.cdrom.com (mass.cdrom.com [204.216.28.184]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29EB214A10; Wed, 8 Dec 1999 12:50:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from msmith@mass.cdrom.com) Received: from mass.cdrom.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mass.cdrom.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA00517; Wed, 8 Dec 1999 12:52:37 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from msmith@mass.cdrom.com) Message-Id: <199912082052.MAA00517@mass.cdrom.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.1.1 10/15/1999 To: Christopher Masto Cc: Mike Smith , Julian Elischer , current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: HEADSUP: wd driver will be retired! In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 08 Dec 1999 15:08:07 EST." <19991208150807.A16687@netmonger.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 12:52:37 -0800 From: Mike Smith Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > On Wed, Dec 08, 1999 at 10:56:24AM -0800, Mike Smith wrote: > > > You shouldn't remove a function until it has been properly replaced. > > > A very simple concept some people seem to have trouble grasping. > > > > Actually, that's not at all correct. We've demonstrated a number of > > times now that you reach a point where a brutal cutover is required. > > Failure to do so leaves people clutching the old security blanket for > > years, and massively impedes further development. > > Unfortunately, FreeBSD has far too many examples of a working system > being replaced with a less functional system. Just off the top of my > head, there were the SCSI drivers lost to CAM, the PCCARD system, > sound drivers, and now ATA. Actually, most of this is histrionics. CAM didn't lose us SCSI drivers; we actually _gained_ from it. We haven't "lost" the pccard system at all, and the new sound code is on a feature-par with both of the old ones. What we need here is a commitment to these new initiatives, not a lot of fence-sitting and clutching our knitting to our chests. All of these initiatives were started to deal with massive problems in the subsystems they replace; clinging to the old code rather than getting on-board and helping with the new code directly impedes the resolution of these problems. Again, I say, think of what we're trying to achieve here. -- \\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith \\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message