From: Adrian Bunk <bunk@fs.tum.de>
To: John Bradford <john@grabjohn.com>
Cc: jgarzik@pobox.com, davidsen@tmr.com,
Linux-Kernel@vger.kernel.org, Riley@Williams.Name,
szepe@pinerecords.com
Subject: Re: [2.6 patch] let broken drivers depend on BROKEN{,ON_SMP}
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 23:03:28 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20030813210328.GM569@fs.tum.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <200308132040.h7DKe7VK002065@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk>
On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 09:40:07PM +0100, John Bradford wrote:
> > > The people who want Linux to be reliable won't be compiling their own
> > > kernels, typically. Because, the people that _do_ compile their own
> > > kernels have sense enough to disable broken drivers :) That's what Red
> > > Hat, SuSE, and others do today.
> >
> > It occurs quite often that you need e.g. the latest -pre or -ac to
> > support some of your hardware.
> >
> > These are situations when an average systems administrator has to
> > compile his on kernel.
>
> That is true. The point is that I don't see how adding an arbitrary
> dependency on a CONFIG_BROKEN option actually helps in any way.
>...
> compile, there is a problem anyway. If they are hidden under a
> CONFIG_BROKEN option, it's just an extra step to enable them, then
> compile with them enabled to get an error to post to LKML.
>...
You don't accidentially enable such an option.
Currently, I see every day reports about compile errors on
linux-kernel - reports for errors that are known and unfixed since
several months.
A dependency on BROKEN is a clear mark that a compile error is already
known.
My personal opinions:
- Ideally, every valid configuration should result in a kernel that
both compiles and works.
- Every compile error gives a bad impression of the quality of the
Linux kernel.
Current 2.4 kernels are (on i386) relatively near to this ideal.
It's not only a technical aspect, it's also a marketing aspect. With
many broken drivers it's easy for people to argue against Linux using
arguments like
Look, what a crap Linux is, the developers even care whether the
kernel compiles.
> John.
cu
Adrian
--
"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2003-08-13 21:03 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 23+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2003-08-13 20:40 [2.6 patch] let broken drivers depend on BROKEN{,ON_SMP} John Bradford
2003-08-13 21:03 ` Adrian Bunk [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2003-08-17 21:27 John Bradford
2003-08-14 5:28 John Bradford
2003-07-31 9:41 John Bradford
2003-08-02 19:48 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-07-30 11:29 John Bradford
2003-07-30 11:37 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-07-30 11:53 ` Jan Evert van Grootheest
2003-07-30 9:11 John Bradford
2003-07-30 10:44 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-07-30 16:04 ` Tomas Szepe
2003-07-30 16:18 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-07-31 9:15 ` Tomas Szepe
2003-08-02 19:47 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-08-13 14:50 ` Bill Davidsen
2003-08-13 15:31 ` Jeff Garzik
2003-08-13 19:17 ` Adrian Bunk
2003-08-13 21:06 ` Bill Davidsen
2003-08-17 9:39 ` Rob Landley
2003-08-18 23:03 ` Bill Davidsen
2003-07-29 19:59 Adrian Bunk
2003-07-30 7:44 ` Riley Williams
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