Re: Coding style - a non-issue

Stanislav Meduna
2001-12-03T09:10:54Z

Horst von Brand wrote:

> Have you got any idea how QA is done in closed environments?

Yes I do. I write commercial sofware for 10 years and have
experience with QA systems in two companies, one of them
major. I think I have seen the full range of QA in various projects -
from a complete negation to a silly buerocratic inefficient one.

> Complex software *has* bugs, bugs which aren't apparent
> except under unsusual circumstances are rarely found in the
> first round of bug chasing.

Sure. But we now have 2.4.16, not 2.4.0 and guess what? -
there is a big thread about fs corruption going right now
in the l-k :-( This should _not_ happen in the stab{le,ilizing}
series and if it happened, the cause should be identified
and measures taken.

I for one think that the kernel has overgrown its current
development model and that some _incremental_ steps
in the direction of both more formal control and delegation
of responsibilities are needed. I think that the most active
kernel developers should discuss the future of the development
model, as they are the only ones that can really come up
with a solution.

It is of course only my opinion - if I am alone having it, forget it.

> > As a user of the vendor's kernel I have no idea what to do
> > with a bug.
>
> Report it to the vendor, through the documented channels?

Did this. It is two months, I did some cornering of the problem
and augmented the report several times. The issue is still NEW,
without any response asking to try a patch, supply more details
or such. Yes, this speaks more of the vendor than of the Linux.
But what impression do you think the average user gets from
such experience?

Regards
--
Stano