out of tree [LWN.net]

out of tree

Posted Aug 3, 2009 22:19 UTC (Mon) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313)
In reply to: out of tree by mikov
Parent article: A tempest in a tty pot

what makes you think that the pool of developers to maintain the drivers in the kernel is finite while the pool of drivers is not?

the number of people who contribute to the kernel continues to grow.

you believe that the unstable API is a drawback, many others believe that is is a strength.

the people that you need to convince are not here, you need to go elsewhere to convince them.

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out of tree

Posted Aug 3, 2009 23:55 UTC (Mon) by mikov (subscriber, #33179) [Link]

the people that you need to convince are not here, you need to go elsewhere to convince them.

Do you mean this in the sense "shut up and go away"?

I don't want to convince anybody. I think that a stable API is a lost cause, like Linux on the desktop, or Linux gaming. It is time to wake up and smell the flowers. The desktop PC is almost gone.

I am curious about intelligent objections against a stable API, but I am not crazy to go get flamed on LKML. (If you do a search, there have been others, brave or stupid enough to post about a stable API there. LOL. Poor suckers. They deserved what was coming to them.)

The people who would need convincing are the big companies who pay for Linux kernel development. It is more than a bit naive to think that volunteers in their free time can influence Linux at this point of its development. But I have a pretty good theory why RedHat, Novell, etc, aren't interested in a stable API.

out of tree

Posted Aug 4, 2009 0:38 UTC (Tue) by foom (subscriber, #14868) [Link]

I'm pretty sure I don't use any 3rd party drivers on my Mac laptop, and I certainly haven't missed
them or thought MacOS was not ready-for-the-desktop because of it...

out of tree

Posted Aug 4, 2009 4:47 UTC (Tue) by mikov (subscriber, #33179) [Link]

Yeah right. Which parts of your Mac did you buy from a different hardware vendor?