Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 11:43:17 -0500 From: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com> To: Boris <koester@x-itec.de>, Murray Stokely <murray@osd.bsdi.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs Linux, Solaris, and NT Message-ID: <5.0.0.25.0.20001219111044.020739e0@mail.etinc.com> In-Reply-To: <16785804580.20001219030629@x-itec.de> References: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0012181442290.25125-100000@pike.osd.bsdi.com> <Pine.BSF.4.21.0012181442290.25125-100000@pike.osd.bsdi.com>
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>Device Drivers >-------------- >I donīt like binary only device drivers. The code of an operating >system is more complex than a driver. if a company does not want to >publish the sourcecode, the should go away. You've lost all credibility here. Well supported device drivers should not require source. I'd prefer a commercial (preferably the manufacters) support other than some guy in the ural mountains who fixes things IF he can get a card with a problem and IF he can duplicate the problem and IF hes a good enough coder to get it done. case and point: How many of us are sitting on our hands waiting for DG to have time to fix the latest snafu in the if_fxp driver? You cant blame him for having a job and earning a living, but the fact is that only he has enough experience with the part to do the job. We all have source, but who wants to spend a couple of weeks learning the intricacies of a very complex part to fix what amounts to a very small bug? You NEED source in linux and freebsd and the like because manufacturers dont support their cards for these OSs and the drivers are a continuous work in progress. Drivers are fixed only AFTER a problem with a new revision part is encountered, which undermines a companies abiltiy to do its work and to have confidence that they will have a solution in the future. I'd take a driver disk with a binary driver with each shipment of cards ANY DAY over having to cross my fingers that the current FreeBSD driver works with them. Drivers written in linux and freebsd, for example, are often "guesses" of how things work because exact documents are not available. The concept that some programmer, as good as he may be, working in his spare time on a driver without full documentation is more desirable than code provided by the manufacturer is so short-sighted that is illustrates that the author has no concept of reality. "hacker mentality" is not mainstream. 98% of people dont have a clue what to do with source code. They want products that just work. Your recommendation, if you make such a recommendation regarding "source over binary", suits your own requirements and not that of your client or readers and shows very poor judgement. DB To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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