14 Mar
2007
14 Mar
'07
4:24 p.m.
On Wed, Mar 14, 2007 at 07:57:06PM +0100, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
This isn't an issue if you release a driver as free software and preen
it for mainline inclusion.
Once a driver in using APIs in the mainline tree, it's easy to track
when API changes break it. When a developer changes an API that
breaks your driver, it is typically up to the developer to update your
code for the API, not you!
So very specifically, it's *not* a planning or budgetary problem, if
you (with your vendor hat on), follow the standard procedures that
operate within Linux kernel development.
--
Ross Vandegrift
ross(a)kallisti.us
"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
--St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37
The interface
does not change that fast.
But the argument that 'kernel developers need the freedom to change
the driver interface when they want to' has been used as one of the
reasons for not having a fixed BDI. Currently the interface _could_
change at any time and you can't plan for it.
Same for 'if your driver is open source then it will be maintained
by some volunteers.' Maybe it will, maybe not. It's understandable
that some people don't want to base a business on that.