Weekly Edition
Return to the Kernel page
| |||||||||||
New maintainers for the x86 architecture
At the kernel summit in
September, Andi Kleen, the maintainer of the i386 and x86_64 architecture
code, stated that he would not maintain that code if it was merged into the
unified x86 architecture. He
appears to have not changed his mind on that score; a patch
merged for 2.6.24 states that the x86 maintainers will be Thomas Gleixner,
Ingo Molnar, and H. Peter Anvin. The x86 code is clearly in good hands,
but it is sad to see Andi bow out; we owe him a lot of thanks for
maintaining the architectures that most of us use for so long.
(Log in to post comments)
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 18:43 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (subscriber, #36192) [Link] Ego >>> Brain
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 19:17 UTC (Mon) by hummassa (subscriber, #307) [Link] Care to clarify this?? Andi has good arguments, he does not agree with the unifying patch, why should he -- voluntarily -- work (and it's a lot of work) under conditions he does not agree with?
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 20:04 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (subscriber, #36192) [Link] Because that's exactly what I said.If your ego is not too much bigger than your intelligence(I call it intelligence,but obviosly we ne to agree about what intelligence really is.I mean generic-intelligence),then you can still work on such an important task to make it better.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 21:32 UTC (Mon) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] But surely if he disagrees with the design of the subsystem, he shouldn't be expected to maintain it. He's been perfectly gracious in stepping aside to let other people try to run with the design they want to use, but it should be up to the people promoting a particular design to take responsibility for making sure it works. If x86 were to turn out to be unmaintainable and Andi were still in charge of it, it would be hard to tell if a maintainer who liked the approach more would be able to make it work. It just makes more sense in terms of aligning motivations if other people are in charge of making it work, and Andi is simply an experienced developer.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 23, 2007 9:37 UTC (Tue) by jengelh (subscriber, #33263) [Link] People do not just work voluntarily, but also for companies. Whether that is the case here or not, I am not sure, but I just wanted to say this.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 19:23 UTC (Mon) by shalem (subscriber, #4062) [Link] Ugh, that is a comment worthy of slashdot, not lwn. Yes so is this, I feel the need to lower myself in order to hopefully stop the degradation of comment quality at lwn. Please refrain from making comments like that (or this) in the future. Hans
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 19:49 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (subscriber, #36192) [Link] Oh,come on,you can't be serious!It's just that I think that a lot of kernel developers seem to be too much egocentric.And what exactly do you find so much disturbing about my comment?There are a lot of excerpts posted on lwn taken from weekly posts on lkml that are a lot more aggressive than this one.Are they acceptable just because it's Linus or some other important kernel developer to make them?I think that a bit of irony and friendly-aggresivity is good to do not take ourselves too much seriously. P.S. "to do not take ourselves too much seriously" is directly translated from italian,so I'm not sure if it's comprehensible.I hope it is.:)
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 22, 2007 21:31 UTC (Mon) by i3839 (subscriber, #31386) [Link] > And what exactly do you find so much disturbing about my comment? No offence meant, but you asked, so to be honest: Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and most of all, the content (or lack thereof). The quantity is also higher than appeasing, just count the number of inane comments you posted on this page already. When posting something, ask yourself, "might someone want to read this?". If you have something to tell, tell, don't expect people to be telepathic, write it out. Ideally you also back up whatever you write with either an explanation, arguments or references. Before hitting the publish button, read what you wrote, check it for basic linguistic errors, and evaluate whether it's worth the web space and people's time reading it.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 23, 2007 2:02 UTC (Tue) by elanthis (subscriber, #6227) [Link] It's got nothing to do with ego, dude. He doesn't like the approach. He would not enjoy working on that subsystem. He didn't whine and cry and scream (like some maintainers). He simply said that he isn't interested in working on the merged system, and stepped aside so that others who don't mind can do the work. It's his time, it's his volunteer work. If he isn't happy working on a piece of code, why should he? Nothing to do with ego, just taste. He'll find something else to help out with that doesn't bother him as much, as the world will keep turning.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 25, 2007 22:08 UTC (Thu) by joern (subscriber, #22392) [Link] > He simply said that he isn't interested in working on the merged system Unless I missed something, this is wrong. Andi is not interested in _maintaining_ the merged architecture. Maintenance includes reponsibility and not wanting to be responsible for the merged architecture is quite understandable, given his numerous objections. But I would be quite surprise if Andi will stop working on x86_64 completely. [side note: He was frequently proclaimed maintainer of i386 as well, but never wanted the job.]
Let's hope Andi stays in the team Posted Oct 22, 2007 20:36 UTC (Mon) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link] I've just checked the git repository for x86, and I see recent Andi's patches there. I really hope that he won't quit the kernel team, even if he is no longer the maintainer of the most popular architectures. Andi was instrumental for getting x86_64 architecture into its excellent shape, and should be commended for that.
Let's hope Andi stays in the team Posted Oct 22, 2007 20:58 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (subscriber, #36192) [Link] I completely agree.
Let's hope Andi stays in the team Posted Oct 22, 2007 21:25 UTC (Mon) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953) [Link] so which of the two branches, 386 or x86_64 were integrated into generic x86? I'm guessing the x86_64 was integrated and the 386 stuff will remain separate.
Let's hope Andi stays in the team Posted Oct 22, 2007 21:31 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (subscriber, #36192) [Link] Both of them has been integrated in x86 with a lot of *32.c,*32.S and *64.c,*64.S files.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 23, 2007 0:14 UTC (Tue) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link] Yes, thank you, Andi Kleen. I just hope that, if the merge goes well and does turn out to be a good move, you'll be willing to come back.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 23, 2007 14:58 UTC (Tue) by riel (subscriber, #3142) [Link] Andi, thank you for maintaining x86-64 for so long.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 26, 2007 3:44 UTC (Fri) by ccyoung (subscriber, #16340) [Link] compound that sentiment
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 23, 2007 22:04 UTC (Tue) by sawickig (guest, #25699) [Link] People have reasons for doing things or not doing them. I tip my hat to Andi for bowing out gracefully. Why everybody makes such a big deal out of this, is what I do not understand. Andi came to to a juncture where he feels he needs to part away. He did it quietly and in civilized manner. Why there is anything wrong with that? Why moves like that even kept the most low key as possible generate so much emotions in the community? On a personal note, Andi, I hope you read that. I thank you here for guiding me several years ago when I was one of early adopters od x86_64 and my box was crashing and you analyzed several crash dumps to conclude that I most likely had hardware problem (one of first retail AMD64 dual core chips). I was in awe how a guru, someone like you can be so humble and down to earth and help just another human being just like that. No flame no bad emotions, just pure professionalism. Good luck Andi.
New maintainers for the x86 architecture Posted Oct 31, 2007 7:58 UTC (Wed) by schumi_han (guest, #47390) [Link] Thank you, Andi. It's your great effor that impresses me a lot.
|
|||||||||||