Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Linux kernel 2.6.23 to have stable userspace driver API
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Linus Torvalds included patches into the mainline tree which implement a
>| stable userspace driver API into the Linux kernel.
> `----
>
> http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/linux-kernel-2623-to-have-stable-userspace-driver-api/
>
> Also new:
>
> Linux kernel 2.6.23 becomes virtualization frameworks playground
>
> http://www.linuxinsight.com/linux-kernel-2.6.23-becomes-virtualization-frameworks-playground.html
Oh dear, here we go again. Let's bend over backwards /now/ for the
promise of jam tomorrow. Wake up, folks, there is *not going to be any
jam tomorrow*.
The problem is that the hardware vendors firmly believe that they have
some secret capability in their hardware which opening up the source
code for a driver will reveal, and that there will be a knock-on
negative effect on their business if that information is revealed.
Experience has shown that the successful reverse engineering of drivers
has resulted in increased sales of hardware into the linux space, and in
particular, far more stable systems than are available in the Windows
world, which is a very complex mess of opaque interacting binaries.
Where customers accept binary drivers, they open themselves up to
distinct possibility of bugs, instability, lack of long-term support,
and then total failure with some combinations of kernel and binary-only
driver, because bugs *in the driver* can never be fixed.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
