Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 9 Sep 1997 10:40:39 -0700 (PDT) | From | "Jon M. Taylor" <> | Subject | Re: Kernel Geeks Unite? |
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On Mon, 8 Sep 1997, Robey Pointer wrote:
> Rob Hagopian wrote: > > > > Should someone really have to upgrade to 2.1.x to use the ThunderLan > > driver [pof: the tlan driver hasn't been backported to 2.0.x yet]? I don't > > think so. Should someone really have to upgrade to 2.1.x to get better SMP > > performance and IPv6? I do think so. > > Stability and new features are mutually exclusive goals.
Features and drivers are not the same thing in this context. I still get Win31 drivers with new printers even today. Making a general practice out of backporting drivers to the previous stable kernel release would go a LONG way towards keeping people from *having* to use potentially unstable development kernels just to get access to a needed driver.
I suppose some drivers may depend on features in the development kernels to a sufficient degree that this would be prohibitively difficult in those cases, but I can't say for sure. Where this is NOT the case, the authors of those drivers should backport them and the production kernel series should occasionally be updated with new backported drivers for as long as the development series continues. The fewer people using unstable kernels in a production environment, the happier they will be and the better Linux's image will be.
Jon
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