From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 4 03:39:05 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1408A106564A for ; Tue, 4 Jan 2011 03:39:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wollman@hergotha.csail.mit.edu) Received: from hergotha.csail.mit.edu (wollman-1-pt.tunnel.tserv4.nyc4.ipv6.he.net [IPv6:2001:470:1f06:ccb::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9C81E8FC13 for ; Tue, 4 Jan 2011 03:39:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from hergotha.csail.mit.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hergotha.csail.mit.edu (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id p043d3HK081917; Mon, 3 Jan 2011 22:39:03 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wollman@hergotha.csail.mit.edu) Received: (from wollman@localhost) by hergotha.csail.mit.edu (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) id p043d3uw081916; Mon, 3 Jan 2011 22:39:03 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wollman) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 22:39:03 -0500 (EST) From: Garrett Wollman Message-Id: <201101040339.p043d3uw081916@hergotha.csail.mit.edu> To: jroberson@jroberson.net X-Newsgroups: mit.lcs.mail.freebsd-arch In-Reply-To: <20110104032143$6d5e@grapevine.csail.mit.edu> References: <20110103210223.GV2973@elvis.mu.org> <4D225E56.2080603@bsdimp.com> <4D22761D.2020706@feral.com> Organization: none X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.6 (hergotha.csail.mit.edu [127.0.0.1]); Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:39:03 -0500 (EST) X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.6 required=5.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,LOTS_OF_MONEY, TO_NO_BRKTS_PCNT autolearn=disabled version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on hergotha.csail.mit.edu Cc: , arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Linux kernel compatability X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:39:05 -0000 In article <20110104032143$6d5e@grapevine.csail.mit.edu>, Jeff Roberson writes: >The original OFED porting effort I did with John Polstra and the people at >Isilon was never updated to my knowledge. It was more mechanical changes >and 'felt' more like FreeBSD but fell so far out of date as to be useless. >Interestingly there was originally a porting layer in the ofed stack back >as it originally compiled on many operating systems. However the >opensource effort focused on linux and the linux people wouldn't take it >without the shims removed. And that, I am absolutely, 100% willing to ascribe to malice on the Linux kernel developers' part. (And there's more than one example like this, not all of them as easily resolved,[1] due to issues with licensing and ownership of original-vendor-abandoned code.) Fundamentally, maintaining any sort of Linux compatibility is a losing battle, since the hordes will keep on rototilling interfaces in every release until the cows come home, with no concern (and in many cases utter contempt) for anyone else who might need to maintain kernel code. It's a testament to their size and ability that they have managed to keep the system relatively usable and stable over the long term when major parts of the system get replaced on such a regular basis. -GAWollman [1] If you can call "removing support for other operating systems" "resolving".