Timur Tabi wrote:
> But that applies to C code as well. In fact, the #2 gripe I hear about Linux
> development is how the API's change so often and without any regard to existing
> code that depends on it. (#1 gripe: the dearth of good development tools).
I consider #2 an advantage. Interfaces are brutally changed, _when that
will improve the kernel_. So the kernel is improved even though
existing
code breaks. The new pagecache broke all filesystems forcing much
rewriting.
And it was a good thing too: speeding it up noticeably, nearly halving
memory
use in some cases, and lessening complexity. The latter part is also
good for SMP scaling.
Oses that don't occationally change internal API's get stuck with
bad design decicions. We should ideally design perfect from the start,
but face it, that don't always happen. And it is sometimes impossible
as hardware and sw ideas nobody thought of before show up.
Helge Hafting
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 30 2000 - 21:00:21 EST