On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 06:12:38PM +0200, Ondřej Surý wrote: > On 31. 5. 2013, at 15:53, Jeff Epler <jep...@unpythonic.net> wrote: > > The idea that somehow users of non-linux kernels don't matter or don't > > even exist as debian users is one of the most frustrating bits of this > > whole thread. > > I would happily support any non-linux kernel arch in form of integrating > patches, but the reality is that Hurd and FreeBSD kernels are just toys. > > That doesn't mean the toys are not important (...all work and no play...), > they are, but they must not stop the inovation. [...]
Please don't talk about 'innovation' in Linux. There really isn't anything particularly new going on here, just incremental development of useful features. There is also plenty of work being done to add new features to the FreeBSD kernel (not all of which gets merged back into it) and apparently a fair amount on Hurd. Their major weakness at the moment is in hardware support (this is an extremely weak point for Hurd), and that can mostly be dealt with by making them work efficiently in VMs. The real problem we have is that these three kernels are not matching each other's features, and if we want to run mostly the same userland on all of them then it can only rely on the common subset of features. That potentially leaves Debian trailing behind Linux-only distributions that aren't limited in this way. I think it makes more sense for all the non-Linux kernels to be supported through debian-ports, allowing porters to apply kernel- specific workaround patches, drop unsupportable packages, and release on their own schedule. There is a risk, of course, that this results in continuing divergence if patches don't get fed 'upstream' to the main Debian archive. Ben. -- Ben Hutchings We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking. - Albert Camus -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130531170441.gv4...@decadent.org.uk