Re: New Linux Development Model

[jerome lacoste <jerome.lacoste@gmail.com>]

On 11/5/05, Edgar Hucek <hostmaster@ed-soft.at> wrote:
> Hi.
>
> Sorry for not posting my Name.
>
> Maybe you don't understand what i wanted to say or it's my bad english.
> The ipw2200 driver was only an example. I had also problems with, vmware,
> unionfs...
> What i mean ist, that kernel developers make incompatible changes to the
> header
> files, change structures, interfaces and so on. Which makes the kernel
> releases
> incompatible.

I will ask you just one question: as a user, why did you want to
upgrade your kernel?

On a server you want stability. So you don't upgrade. On a desktop,
there are probably a bunch of out of kernel modules that will need
upgrading with each new kernel modules. Just on the laptop I am using
right now, I will have to upgrade the vmware bridge, nvidia driver,
madwifi wireless driver, etc. And that's normal. The new development
model didn't change that.

I avoid touching my kernel on boxes I do real work with. I do build a
new kernel for test purposes and to give feedback if there's an issue.
But most of the time I skip 2-3 versions before finding a very
compelling reason to upgrade. And I stick with my distribution kernel
as much as I can.

As for kernel/drivers developers, it's another story.

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Jerome