Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 02:16:22 -0700 (PDT) From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.ORG> To: Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net> Cc: arch@FreeBSD.ORG, Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>, Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@flugsvamp.com> Subject: Re: kblob discussion. Message-ID: <200006250916.CAA02237@john.baldwin.cx> In-Reply-To: <20000619160518.F17420@fw.wintelcom.net>
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On 19-Jun-00 Alfred Perlstein wrote: > If it's flexible enough then you won't need to rip out my API, you'll > find it obnoxiously easy to create compatibility shims for it. Egads! This style of thinking leads to complicated code later on in life. Just read locore.s on the i386 and note how we have to maintain 3 (4?) different types of stacks when we start the kernel. For a second example, look at all the ugly hacks we have to do in the loader to handle disk drives via the BIOS on PC's due to have to remain backwards compatible. Adding a limited API that you _expect_ to be replaced in the future by a more generic API feels very wrong. Now, if your feeling is that this more generic API is never going to come along, then having a specific API is better than having none. However, forcing a situation in which we will be forced to maintain backwards compatibility may not be a wise move from a maintenance perspective. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> -- http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ PGP Key: http://www.cslab.vt.edu/~jobaldwi/pgpkey.asc "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message
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