Hello Alan,
it is unknown to me to whom to send the following question with reference to
the kernel source version documentation. Therefore, I take the risk to directly
contact you although I suppose that you are a busy person.
May be you just could spare a little bit of your time and give me some
assistance on the this matter.
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
As I did try to help a little bit to get some bugs out of the new kernel
2.4.0-test1 release I was unable to compile the kernel.
I have sent a problem report via [EMAIL PROTECTED] and got a
response. After exchange of some emails the problem was solved.
However, an explanation to the following question is still open.
----------------- cut from one email ----------------------------------------
I have made a list of the file in question (ppp_deflate.c) for the various
kernel versions. As you can see here
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 17776 Mar 11 1999
/usr/src/linux-2.2.13/drivers/net/ppp_deflate.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17776 Mar 11 1999
/usr/src/linux-2.2.14/drivers/net/ppp_deflate.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 502 502 17776 Mar 11 1999
/usr/src/linux-2.2.15-1/drivers/net/ppp_deflate.c
-rw-r--r-- 1 1046 xfs 17094 Mar 13 06:12
/usr/src/linux-2.4.0-test1/drivers/net/ppp_deflate.c
The file header of ppp_deflate.c in each directory gives the info
=== FILEVERSION 980319 =====
However, when you look at the date and size of the file in each directory you
will find that these data are the same for the Kernel 2.2.1x source files.
In the last entry for the 2.4.0-test1 kernel the date has changed to Mar 13 2000
and the size is 682 bytes less than the size of the previous versions.
But the version info for the file has not been changed.
------------
------------------- end of cut ----------------------------------------
Equal discrepancy can be found in when someone tries to resolve the problem of
what has changed in the ext2 system of the kernel.
Try to compile the e2fsprogs-1.18-0 under linux-2.4.0-test1-ac4 the compilation
will break with an error in swap.c.
If someone tries to find out what has changed in linux/include/linux/ext2_fs.h
in order to integrate such changes into the e2fsprogs source tree because the
code in the kernel sources is the most recent reference he/she will get
stuck.
The version header in the linux kernel tree shows the same information as the
file in the e2fsprogs source.
Version date 95/08/09 and version 0.5b. The time stamps are different as well
as the size in bytes.
Comparing this to the various 2.2.x kernels the file version always give the
same information.
But the latest version in the kernel 2.4.0 source tree has a time stamp of
May 29 2000 - which is the date I applied the ac4 patch ;)
This is why I have the following question. Is is possible for the upcoming
kernel version (2.5 -> 2.6) to integrate a stronger version update policy?
It would make it easier to trace changes and apply them to sources related to
the kernel instead of trying to find out (guess) what has been changed.
I wonder what happened to the failing `ppp_register_compressor' and
`ppp_unregister_compressor' routines mentioned in the first example above.
The ppp_deflate.c source is used by various modules of the kernel related to
net functions - only the ISDN part made the kernel compilation break.
The same holds true for the ext2 file system. According to the version info
nothing has change since 95/08/09. But ....
These are only two of various examples.
Sorry for the long email. It probably helps to get me on the list of
persons for who the email goes > /dev/nul.
Thank you for your kind attention.
With kind regards
Herbert U. H�bner
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