On 2011-09-26, Michael Mol <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 3:37 PM, pk <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Happened upon this interview with Linus Torvalds that some of you might
>> find interesting (if you haven't seen it already):
>>
>> http://h30565.www3.hp.com/t5/Feature-Articles/Linus-Torvalds-s-Lessons-on-Software-Development-Management/ba-p/440
>
> Yeah, I just saw that. Admittedly, when I saw this section:
>
> --begin-section--
[...]
> Breaking the user experience in order to ???fix??? something
> is a totally broken concept; you cannot do it.
That's hilarious.
The Linux developers are _constantly_ changing APIs in ways that break
existing device driver code. There are repeatedly wholesale
re-designs of some APIs that happen between minor versions of a
supposedly "stable" kernel.
We have to touch our NetBSD and FreeBSD drivers maybe once every 3-4
years. Often our Linux drivers have to be updated every 3-4 _months_
to keep up with changes in the kernel that break things.
I suppose one could try to claim that people who ship Linux drivers
for their hardware aren't "users" of the kernel, and therefore our
dealing with such breakage isn't a "user experience".
--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! Everybody is going
at somewhere!! It's probably
gmail.com a garage sale or a disaster
Movie!!
