Re: Linux 2.6.16.30-pre1

[Sergey Vlasov <vsu@altlinux.ru>]

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On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 01:53:15 +0200 Willy Tarreau wrote:

> The problem is when some hardware suddenly become detected and assigned
> in the middle of a stable release. Do not forget that people need stable
> releases to be able to blindly update and get their security vulnerabilities
> fixed. Sometimes, unlocking 2 SATA ports on the mobo by adding a PCI ID or
> adding the PCI ID of some new ethernet cards that were not supported may
> lead to such fun things (eth0 becoming eth2, sda becoming sdc, etc...).
> This causes real trouble to admins, particularly those doing remote
> updates. At least, I think that if you manage to inform people clearly
> enough, and to separate security fixes and such fixes in distinct releases,
> it might work in most situations. But this is a dangerous game anyway.

Seems that the V4L/DVB patches in question are safe in this regard.
These patches add PCI table entries matching the specific subsystem ids;
without these entries the device will still match the default entry for
the chip, and the user will get the same /dev/videoN, but most likely it
won't work correctly.

The only problem which might arise is with additional IR input devices,
but no one should expect any stable ordering there - with USB the order
of input devices is already random.

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