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SubjectRE: wake_up_interruptible changes
On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, David Schwartz wrote:

>
> > This breaks every Linux driver that implements poll/select, meaning
> > that once released, all such drivers will have to be rewritten, not
> > just compiled.
> >
> > Is it possible that these kinds of changes could be implemented in
> > the future as MACROS so that one doesn't have to rewrite released
> > code?
> >
> > The problem may not be evident to a lot of persons unless they
> > are trying to use Linux in a commercial environment. We have,
> > currently under development. a Medical Imaging System
> > (a CAT Scanner) with a main controller, the thing that does all the
> > sequencing, and control of the entire machine, written in the Linux
> > environment. This required drivers for all the non-standard
> > communications, control, and image processing hardware to be written for
> > Linux.
> >
> > This machine, because it is used in medical applications, must
> > be certified by the FDA. By the time this machine is complete
> > and ready for certification, (in about 2 years) many new
> > versions of Linux will have been released. If anything having
> > to do with the basic control (read safety) is changed, the
> > machine must be re-certified. This means that we either use
> > a current standard "release" with all its bugs and old technology
> > and stick with it forever, or we attempt to keep the software up-to-date
> > so that, by the time the FDA certification occurs, we are able to use the
> > "latest" released kernel.
>
> I could not disagree with you more. If there really are life-safety issues,
> the code *should* break badly (and should be designed to break badly) when
> its dependency code is changed. And it should require someone familiar with
> the life-safety issues to go in and fix it before it compiles again.

You read much more into what I wrote than what I wrote. We intend to keep
our code more-or-less "current" so that, when it comes time for the
certification process, the "latest and greatest" stable release will
be used. It can be used because we have kept current.

A bit of forethought on the part of persons who modify kernel interface
structures can go a long way towards that goal.



Cheers,
Dick Johnson

Penguin : Linux version 2.3.13 on an i686 machine (400.59 BogoMips).
Warning : The end of the world as we know it requires a new calendar.
Seconds : 1351019 (until Y2K)


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