From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 8 15:38:33 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EA69737B401; Thu, 8 May 2003 15:38:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mx0.freebsd-services.com (survey.codeburst.net [195.149.39.161]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0215143F3F; Thu, 8 May 2003 15:38:33 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from paul@freebsd-services.com) Received: from [192.168.7.2] (freebsd.gotadsl.co.uk [81.6.249.198]) by mx0.freebsd-services.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 971AD1B211; Thu, 8 May 2003 23:38:31 +0100 (BST) From: Paul Richards To: Dag-Erling Smorgrav In-Reply-To: References: <20030501182820.GA53641@madman.celabo.org> <20030503201409.GA41554@dragon.nuxi.com> <20030505175428.GA19275@madman.celabo.org> <20030506170919.GD36798@dragon.nuxi.com> <20030506175557.GE79167@madman.celabo.org> <20030508161223.GL1869@survey.codeburst.net> Content-Type: text/plain Organization: FreeBSD Services Ltd Message-Id: <1052433233.619.27.camel@cf.freebsd-services.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.4 Date: 08 May 2003 23:33:54 +0100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: "Jacques A. Vidrine" cc: David O'Brien cc: freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: `Hiding' libc symbols X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 22:38:34 -0000 On Thu, 2003-05-08 at 22:30, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote: > Paul Richards writes: > > Any C code that isn't written according to the standard that defines > > C is broken. > > That includes most of the FreeBSD source tree. To some extent true, but we don't deliberately break the rules or flagrantly disregard them. It's more a case of the code having a long lineage and things having changed, or deliberately breaking the rules but being fully aware of the reason for doing so (we're not pedants, good programming practices result in solid code, but if there's a good reason for breaking the rules and you know what you're doing it's sometimes appropriate to do so). > > There's just no argument to be made that FreeBSD should be hacked > > to support C code that is written by programmers who haven't bothered > > to learn the rules of C properly. > > [...] > > My opinion is that FreeBSD should cater to the people who know their > > stuff and let the crap programmers out their be shown the bugs that > > exist in their code when they try to use it on FreeBSD. > > Now I know why people accuse us of elitism... > > Let's please not favor pedantry over robustness. This isn't elitism. A professor or teacher is not elitist when they correct the mistakes of less experienced pupils. FreeBSD should highlight bad habits so people can see that they are making mistakes and improve their skills. A poor teacher is one who ignores the bad habits developing in their pupils, and I'd like FreeBSD to foster a community where good programming skills are developed. -- Paul Richards FreeBSD Services Ltd