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Re: netlink tester program

To: <davem@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: netlink tester program
From: "Randy.Dunlap" <rddunlap@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 20:54:01 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: <jsd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, <netdev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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In-reply-to: <20030602.204645.48505284.davem@xxxxxxxxxx>
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>    It is also important to distinguish what's best
>    for *you* and what's best for the project.
>    Maybe *you* don't want to be responsible for
>    doing all the documentation.
>
> I'm not even going to attempt to document something that
> moves as fast as the kernel.

That point is a real problem...

> I go to bookstores and I see many excellent attempts to document
> kernel internals, but these books are frozen in time.  Specifically they are
> frozen in the time of the moment the kernel they write for is published.  As
> a consequence they are all obsolete the moment they are published.

No doubt.

> Some poor student reads these books, written against 2.4.8 or
> whatever, then they go and try to contribute to 2.5.x and it
> doesn't work except for certain kinds of drivers where we've
> kept the APIs more or less the same.
>
> But I don't care that people do this, just don't require that I do it.

Sure.  Are you willing to answer questions about it at least?

> I think this extra fluidity we get from being able to change so fast is a
> strength not a weakness.

If it were only a strength, that would be great.
I believe that it's both, however.

~Randy




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