From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 6 21:30:16 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4AC0816A403 for ; Fri, 6 Apr 2007 21:30:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out4.smtp.messagingengine.com (out4.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.28]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0DFFE13C44C for ; Fri, 6 Apr 2007 21:30:15 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.internal [10.202.2.41]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 44C2E2124A9; Fri, 6 Apr 2007 17:30:23 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat2.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.161]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:30:16 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: D5XCZhyUO9BRdnpzWvinRMa0q2wH0oDLNy3oJajxGJGA 1175895015 Received: from [192.168.123.18] (82-35-112-254.cable.ubr07.dals.blueyonder.co.uk [82.35.112.254]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BAB7A18D36; Fri, 6 Apr 2007 17:30:15 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4616BBE6.8080202@FreeBSD.org> Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:30:14 +0100 From: "Bruce M. Simpson" User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (X11/20070125) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Nikolas Britton References: <20070405103708.GC842@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <20070405.140109.39240822.imp@bsdimp.com> <73EB6741-1441-4475-A9D8-4D0049BB8D9A@mindspring.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Current Subject: Re: Do we need this junk? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:30:16 -0000 Nikolas Britton wrote: > > What data do you have to back that claim up? Unless you have real > quantitative data to support your claims the bsdstats.org statistics > stand as an accurate representative sample of the population... i.e. > it's *1000% better the your sample size of one. Well, they don't, because the statistics which you cite are not representative -- they certainly do not represent the hardware I use to work on FreeBSD. I do not own any SSE2 systems. I didn't even know a web site called bsdstats.org existed until you informed us of its existence on this mailing list. I am concerned that a somewhat shallow argument is being put forward with incomplete statistics from a single source inappropriately being used to support it; your argument appears to lack real consideration of the software engineering effort required to put it into production. Nikolas, to be fair, if you are willing to do the work, or financially or otherwise support, the work necessary to support the changes you are suggesting should be made (and I responded to you in private explaining that I understand some of the motivation behind your suggested changes), then it would seem to me to be reasonable and fair for the Project to consider them, and I am sure they will be of interest at the appropriate time. Until such time as these systems are more common, however, then I'm afraid your suggestion has to be abandoned, for the time being, because your position appears unjustified in terms of the statistics you provide, and your arguments. The proposition you make is a very long term proposition indeed. As such, I speculate most of the people working on FreeBSD will continue to focus on more important things in the immediate future. Respectfully yours, BMS