Re: Server shipments [was Re: Minutes from Feb 21 LSE Call]

Martin J. Bligh
2003-02-25T03:43:56Z

> Given that a fairly thorough performance testing suite is already in
> place, it would seem to be up to the advocates for the "threatened"
> computing environment (large or small) to convince the "testers that be"
> that certain tests should be added. It is inherently unreasonable to
> expect the developer of a feature/change to be unbiased and neutral with
> respect to that feature, therefore it is unreasonable to expect them to
> prove beyond a reasonable doubt that their feature has no negative
> impact. The best that they can do is convince themselves that the
> feature passes the really deep sniff test. The rest is up to the
> community. The ability of a third party to critique code changes is a
> large part of why the bazaar nature of linux development is so valuable.

An excellent and well thought out summary, and exactly why I welcome
Larry's proposal to do some testing and produce specific numbers on
specific patches instead of hand-waving and spreading FUD. This kind of
arrangement is exactly why the open development model will allow Linux to
win out in the long term.

M.