Kernel Modules in Fedora -x

[Les Mikesell]

Emmanuel Seyman wrote:
> * Les Mikesell [07/08/2007 16:45] :
>> Interfaces broken by mid-version updates are just as broken in fedora as 
>> they would be in RHEL and it's not any more a straw man for one 
>> distribution than another unless you are willing to say that one is only 
>> suitable for testing.
> 
> This implies (to varying degrees) several things :
> 
> - The two distributions target the same audience.
> - The two distributions claim equivalent support of API/ABI stability.
> - API/ABI changes are broken for the sheer heck of it.
> - Updates have no features other than changes in API/ABI.
> 
> These implications range from "not true" to "false". Put together, they
> make a poor representation of the reasons why Fedora sticks to upstream
> whereas RHEL promises API/ABI stability which is why I call this a straw
> man.

What I'm looking for from this discussion is a definition of the target 
audience for fedora.  Nobody expects perfection, but is there really an 
audience that doesn't care if their devices stop working or not?

>>                       If you want to say the changes are a good thing, 
>> then lets see them in RHEL too.
> 
> Ad hominem tu quoque.
> FWIW, its stagnation is one of the reasons I do not use RHEL (or clone
> thereof).

Agreed at the application level, but not for the kernel. I have yet to 
see a mid-version kernel change that mattered to me in any situation 
where the machine was working to begin with.  Enhancing hotplug support 
is nice but that's the sort of change that could be made at major 
version releases which come around fast enough anyway in fedora.

>>                                 But, if you want to put that aside for 
>> the moment, firewire will make a great example.  Do you forsee a time 
>> when you would keep your own backups or valuable data on a firewire 
>> drive under fedora?
> 
> Not having any firewire materiel, I can't answer the question.
> What exactly is the problem with firewire support in Fedora ?

There have been large chunks of time that it hasn't worked or disks 
wouldn't be recognized even if it saw a raw IEEE device.  I gave up and 
switched the machines that needed it to Centos with the centosplus 
kernel so I don't know the current state except that I've seen comments 
about a complete rewrite coming so it must still leave something to be 
desired (and even on Centos I don't trust it beyond connecting 
temporarily for backup copies).  Anyway it's a good device to talk about 
in any discussion of included vs. vendor-supplied drivers or user 
expectations vs. experience in general.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com