I think that most installations where Linux/390 is being installed or tried have already accepted that "large business risk" by installing and using IBM hardware and software in the first place. All of which is patented, copyrighted and licensed. I doubt that using a few kB of OCO OSA drivers is going to be a problem for them.
As for the developers I'm sure that IBM will accept their problem reports and either tell them how to fix/bypass the problem or when they can expect to see a fix. The industry has been operating that way for over thirty years and it has served us well. And I think RedHat severly dropped the ball. They could have easily done the testing and talked with IBM about resolving any problems that arose and had the OSA drivers tested and shipped with their package. But, they cut out any installation that uses OSA cards and have probably lost a lot of business. What will they decide to drop from the next release? Henry Schaffer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 12/26/2001 04:18:18 PM Please respond to Linux on 390 Port <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: (bcc: Dennis Wicks/infosvcs/CDG) Subject: Re: LCS drivers for 2.4.9 ? Mark writes: >That's an interesting non sequitur. I don't think its a non sequitur - having something OCO means it can't be updated for new kernel releases, it can't be investigated when problems are happening, it depends on IBM for everything. That is a real business risk for people who depend on OSA cards for 390 data communications. --henry schaffer >Mark Post > >-----Original Message----- >From: Alan Cox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2001 3:42 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: LCS drivers for 2.4.9 ? > >> Remember, the ONLY Linux kernel OCO code IBM supplies, to my knowlede, is >> for OSA cards! > >And what about next month, or next year. In the PC world I can rip out a >card if a vendor screws me, and go elsewhere. Its a $200 annoyance not >a million dollar business risk. > >Alan
