Nicolas Williams wrote: > Dunno, but it should be a matter of running a case to update the > interface taxonomy. We basically need to revive "External".
I fail to see the point in that. "External" behaved exactly as "Volatile" does now in terms of actual interface stability. The difference is merely in the language used: while "External" gave the entirely wrong impression that software written by those with SMI paychecks is somehow either moldier (or more "stable") than the software produced by others. The "External" word referred to "people outside Sun." In contrast, "Volatile" focuses exactly on what the ARC should care about: not the name of the author, but the behavior of the software. Reviving "External" is just grossly inappropriate in the OpenSolaris context, and since the two are equivalent in architectural terms (when and how interfaces change), it doesn't really add anything useful to the discussion. It just adds confusion. > I'd add that it is useful to tell users (in manpages) where to look for > interface stability of interfaces that aren't part of core OpenSolaris, > and even to tell them what we think those interface stabilities are. > That's because setting expectations is useful. Of course, we should > also caveat that if the upstream breaks an interface, we may break it > too or that we may deliver multiple versions of whatever the item is. Yes, those are the correct solutions. If it really is the case that the upstream is known to make unpredictable and even baldly stupid moves, then marking the interface as "Volatile" makes great sense. Do it. You'll get no argument from me. Things that are in fact "Volatile" require that sort of warning label, and putting it there rightly informs users that if they do use it anyway, they'll likely be committing themselves to (at least!) recompiling and retesting on each upgrade. But when the upstream really is sensible, and doesn't deliberately break their own software (or, as in many cases, isn't actively doing any work anymore), then applying "Volatile" (or "External") to the interface merely as a way to say "this wasn't written by one of the good guys at Sun" is deeply wrong, and needs to be corrected. Just because some software isn't maintained at Sun isn't a good reason to malign it as "Volatile." You need better justification than that. -- James Carlson 42.703N 71.076W <carlsonj at workingcode.com>
