Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 13 Aug 2003 23:03:28 +0200 | From | Adrian Bunk <> | Subject | Re: [2.6 patch] let broken drivers depend on BROKEN{,ON_SMP} |
| |
On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 09:40:07PM +0100, John Bradford wrote: > > > The people who want Linux to be reliable won't be compiling their own > > > kernels, typically. Because, the people that _do_ compile their own > > > kernels have sense enough to disable broken drivers :) That's what Red > > > Hat, SuSE, and others do today. > > > > It occurs quite often that you need e.g. the latest -pre or -ac to > > support some of your hardware. > > > > These are situations when an average systems administrator has to > > compile his on kernel. > > That is true. The point is that I don't see how adding an arbitrary > dependency on a CONFIG_BROKEN option actually helps in any way. >... > compile, there is a problem anyway. If they are hidden under a > CONFIG_BROKEN option, it's just an extra step to enable them, then > compile with them enabled to get an error to post to LKML. >...
You don't accidentially enable such an option.
Currently, I see every day reports about compile errors on linux-kernel - reports for errors that are known and unfixed since several months.
A dependency on BROKEN is a clear mark that a compile error is already known.
My personal opinions: - Ideally, every valid configuration should result in a kernel that both compiles and works. - Every compile error gives a bad impression of the quality of the Linux kernel.
Current 2.4 kernels are (on i386) relatively near to this ideal.
It's not only a technical aspect, it's also a marketing aspect. With many broken drivers it's easy for people to argue against Linux using arguments like
Look, what a crap Linux is, the developers even care whether the kernel compiles.
> John.
cu Adrian
--
"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |