From owner-freebsd-current Sat Nov 9 14:11: 8 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB45737B404 for ; Sat, 9 Nov 2002 14:11:06 -0800 (PST) Received: from hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net (hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.22]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6CE0143E42 for ; Sat, 9 Nov 2002 14:11:06 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tlambert2@mindspring.com) Received: from pool0116.cvx40-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net ([216.244.42.116] helo=mindspring.com) by hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18AdoK-0007Ar-00; Sat, 09 Nov 2002 14:10:36 -0800 Message-ID: <3DCD878F.1669D78B@mindspring.com> Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2002 14:09:19 -0800 From: Terry Lambert X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Doug Rabson Cc: Daniel Eischen , "M. Warner Losh" , ataraxia@cox.net, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: [PATCH] note the __sF change in src/UPDATING References: <200211091738.33940.dfr@nlsystems.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Doug Rabson wrote: > The kernel ABI is hopeless. It changes almost daily :-(. At one time, I > thought I could change this but these days, I don't think anyone except > me cares about having a stable ABI in the kernel. I care. It's almost the most important thing to be able to build anything of value. But a stable API is required for a stable ABI. It does absolutely no good to build a cathedral, if, by the time you are done, the roads have moved so that there is no road which leads to it. The next most important thing is to document it, so that people can use it. "All coordinates are expressed in logitude and lattitute. North is that way. No cows are permitted in the city limits. All cats and dogs which are uncollared and tagged will be captured and spayed and neutered". If you can't agree on a coordinate system ("OLDCARD? NEWCARD? REDCARD? BLUECARD?"), then at least agree to get rid of data interfaces; today, people are adding to them with sysctl exposured of structs, as if it's not going to be a problem. It's a problem. It's one thing to say "The cathedral is a about a mile yonder of of Johnson's barn, just down the road a piece from Smithy, which is about a league yonder, and then follow the creek for a spell", and something else entirely to say "The cathedral is at 117 East 32st street; this is 12421 West 1st street". -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message