Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 5, 2006 20:08 UTC (Wed) by NapalmLlama (guest, #26327)
In reply to: Desktop Linux moves towards unified API by rvfh
Parent article: Linux moves towards unified APIs (IT Week)

Indeed - a stable API for the kernel would be wonderful...

Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 5, 2006 21:44 UTC (Wed) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link] (4 responses)

One exists. It's called the system call layer. Any userspace program that uses a given system call is guaranteed that system call will work on any future kernel version.

Oh, did you mean a stable internal, kernel-space API? You don't want that. Greg KH wrote a very comprehensive blog post on why you don't want that. Rather than rehash what he said, I'll just link to it.

Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 5, 2006 21:57 UTC (Wed) by mrshiny (guest, #4266) [Link] (3 responses)

I may be opening up a can of worms by replying to you, but suffice to say that not all Linux users are convinced that Greg KH is right about this. He may be a smart guy, but what's best for the kernel devs is not always what's best for the users. And IMO (as a professional dev) the only reason software exists is for the users. I could go on but it's offtopic.

Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 6, 2006 3:59 UTC (Thu) by beoba (guest, #16942) [Link]

One of the bonuses of coding on a volunteer basis is that you are your own customer.

Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 7, 2006 0:29 UTC (Fri) by lysse (guest, #3190) [Link]

"IMO (as a professional dev) the only reason software exists is for the users."

Isn't that precisely what separates amateur efforts (a category which includes volunteer projects) from professional endeavours? Even in the professional world, where does "if we build it, they will come" fit into that philosophy?

Desktop Linux moves towards unified API

Posted Jul 7, 2006 12:53 UTC (Fri) by job (guest, #670) [Link]

This case is a bit harder because what the customers/consumers want short time is not what they want long time. Most users would kill for nvidias non-free driver to be included in Linus' kernel. Ironically, this would also kill the Linux kernel, which is not what they want. These things are complicated.