Re: Disgusted with kbuild developers

Matthias Andree
2002-02-16T03:13:26Z

On Sat, 16 Feb 2002, Dave Jones wrote:

> On Sat, Feb 16, 2002 at 12:23:12AM +0100, Matthias Andree wrote:
> > Are you telling that kernel programmers don't rewrite code from scratch?
> > Is that a correct interpretation of "improve the existing system"? Note
> > that "it can't be done" can also imply "cannot reasonable be done".
> > Eric has done it, without being of kernel hacker temple's fame.
>
> The kernel hacker approach: Gradual change toward a predefined goal.
> The Eric approach: Rip out existing, replace with new.
>
> If Al Viro can rewrite the guts of the VFS without hardly anyone
> noticing any disturbance, and the configuration system can't be
> done this way, something is amiss.

Not necessarily. If the gradual change infers intermediate functions
that are not needed for a hard cut-over, it's no good to do all the
extra work if the already-existing result is known to work. I'd
certainly not drop CML1 from 2.4, but 2.5 is the time for changes.

You don't take an airplane to drive alongs autobahns for a gradual
change either.

It seems to me as though the "rip out existing" issue was rather a
"don't let us maintain two parts of the same type at the same time"
convenience feature than a trait of CML2, and if so, keep both for some
releases and drop CML1 in, say, 2.5.8.