Steve M Bibayoff wrote:
And, yes, I subscribe to the people who actually write the linux
kernel opinion that stable kernel API in a FLOSS OS is silly:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/misc/2.6/stable-api-nonsense-2.6.10-rc2.patch
That whole article is basically a paean to being uncaring and lazy in
programming.
You can maintain a stable API or even ABI *even through massive
revisions*.`--see FreeBSD, Solaris and AIX. You just shim the old API
over the new one. Even major *userland* application systems try to
maintain API's within major versions.
Quoting:
"(unused interfaces are pretty much impossible to test for validity.)"
Uh, no. Tests don't suddenly stop working or lose their validity. Oh,
but, wait, that would imply that you have *tests*. And we all know that
Linux doesn't.
Because, you see, that's *work*. And real programmers like Linus don't
do that kind of grunt work--that's what the plebians are for.
"Let them file bug reports!"
-a
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