Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 04 Oct 2006 15:12:58 -0400 | From | Jeff Garzik <> | Subject | Re: wpa supplicant/ipw3945, ESSID last char missing |
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Jean Tourrilhes wrote: > On Wed, Oct 04, 2006 at 11:38:19AM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote: >> >> On Wed, 4 Oct 2006, Jean Tourrilhes wrote: >>> You can't froze kernel userspace API forever. That is simply >>> not workable >> Stop arguing this way. >> >> It's not what we have ever done. We've _extended_ the API. But we don't >> break old ones. > > Old APIs get deprecated, and people are forced to the new API, > which is exactly the same as far as userspace is concerned. This > transition is exactly the same as what you propose, both kernel API > coexist for some time, except it happens in userspace instead of in > kernel, which is an implementation detail. > So, my question is when can I remove the old ESSID API. > >> I don't even see why you argue. Even the people directly involved with >> this thing seem to say that it should have some simple translation layer >> and do the internal format thing. We've had major subsystem that do that, >> and I don't see why you think wireless is so different, and so special in >> this respect. > > The Wireless people (Jouni, Dan) decided to change the > *userspace* API. We could translate the new *userspace* API to the old > kernel API, but I don't see the point.
Kernel API and userspace API are two vastly different things. We change the kernel API all the time. We _don't_ change the userspace API, except when "change" is defined as an additional to an existing API.
>> If you need to break something, you create a new interface, and try to >> translate between the two, and maybe you deprecate the old one so that it >> can be removed once it's not in use any more. > > That's exactly what it hinges on. What is your criteria for > removing the old ESSID API. My understanding was 6 months.
There is no reason why the old ESSID API cannot live on for years and years. Just like stat(2) version 1 doesn't support modern time granularity, old ESSID API won't support the full range of modern ESSIDs. So what? That's what a new API -- living alongside the old one -- is for.
Jeff
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