Re: Out of ptys??

H. Peter Anvin (hpa@transmeta.com)
16 Aug 1998 20:18:43 GMT

Followup to: <199808161642.SAA32421@oboe.it.uc3m.es>
By author: "Peter T. Breuer" <ptb@it.uc3m.es>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> >
> > [1: a human generation is a good minimum life for a published
> > interface.]
>
> Amen. Please take note: change nothing unless you are forced to.
> That's the main argument against devfs (which I have nothing against as
> an innovation, and everything against as am inevitable source of
> pointless misery for application maintainers when what we have _works_.
> Ditto non-exec stack.).
>

Note that the published interface is the /dev node! Changing the /dev
nodes is part of the kernel upgrade; you don't have to change anything
if you don't upgrade your kernel...

The change to major 2/3 was desperately needed, and the way the
compatibility mode was implemented it was a hack; doing it right would
have been too expensive to be worth it.

IMNSHO it is pretty darn unrealistic of everyone to think that you can
get away with upgrading your kernel only; the kernel isn't the only
part of the operating system! I *DEFINITELY* agree that the interface
presented to programs mustn't break, however.

-hpa

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