From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1756565AbYAAQeA (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:34:00 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754504AbYAAQdw (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:33:52 -0500 Received: from smtp6.pp.htv.fi ([213.243.153.40]:32913 "EHLO smtp6.pp.htv.fi" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754787AbYAAQdw (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jan 2008 11:33:52 -0500 Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 18:33:38 +0200 From: Adrian Bunk To: Alan Cox Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [2.6 patch] remove CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL Message-ID: <20080101163337.GX2360@does.not.exist> References: <20080101134809.GK2360@does.not.exist> <20080101142344.769f16c7@the-village.bc.nu> <20080101151751.GW2360@does.not.exist> <20080101160708.5bb5cc2a@the-village.bc.nu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080101160708.5bb5cc2a@the-village.bc.nu> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.17 (2007-11-01) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, Jan 01, 2008 at 04:07:08PM +0000, Alan Cox wrote: > On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 17:17:51 +0200 > Adrian Bunk wrote: > > > On Tue, Jan 01, 2008 at 02:23:44PM +0000, Alan Cox wrote: > > > On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 15:48:09 +0200 > > > Adrian Bunk wrote: > > > > > > > This patch removes the EXPERIMENTAL option and all dependencies on > > > > EXPERIMENTAL since they are pointless. > > > > > > NAK > > > > > > Experimental is an important guide to driver and code quality. > > >... > > > > History has shown that EXPERIMENTAL tags in many areas of the kernel > > have not been maintained in a way that they would be usable as a guide. > > Repeatedly posting crud does not make it right. As far as I can see the > tags are pretty honest for the most part - some have been experimental > for ten years but the 3c507 driver *has* always been a beta grade driver. So smbfs is still considered rock solid while no serious distribution would be crazy enough to ship the EXPERIMENTAL NFSv4 support to their customers? I'm not claiming that all EXPERIMENTAL tags were wrong [1], but many were wrong. Plus the fact that CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL controlled so many different things with one switch that CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=n .config's are really rare. > > And as soon as you need _one_ driver or feature depending on > >> That's not about consensus, > > It should be. You removed the context. The fact that Andrew has not applied a three times sent patch does not necessarily imply there was any problem with a patch - "no answer" on linux-kernel always translates to "continue patchbombing". > Alan cu Adrian [1] after all, even with a random distribution many of them were right ;-) -- "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