Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263893AbTIBV5n (ORCPT ); Tue, 2 Sep 2003 17:57:43 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263923AbTIBV5n (ORCPT ); Tue, 2 Sep 2003 17:57:43 -0400 Received: from svr-ganmtc-appserv-mgmt.ncf.coxexpress.com ([24.136.46.5]:22025 "EHLO svr-ganmtc-appserv-mgmt.ncf.coxexpress.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263893AbTIBV5g (ORCPT ); Tue, 2 Sep 2003 17:57:36 -0400 Subject: Re: Driver Model From: Robert Love To: jimwclark@ntlworld.com Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Patrick Mochel In-Reply-To: <200309022244.55500.jimwclark@ntlworld.com> References: <200309022244.55500.jimwclark@ntlworld.com> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1062540483.29020.31.camel@boobies.awol.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.4 (1.4.4-4) Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 18:08:03 -0400 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1520 Lines: 35 On Tue, 2003-09-02 at 17:44, James Clark wrote: > Would a more rigid 'plugin' interface and the concequent move from mainly > 'source' modules to binary 'plugins' (still with source-code available for > all to see) mean that (a) Kernel was smaller (2) Had to be > released/recompiled less (4) Was EVEN more stable and (4) 'plugins' were more > portable across releases and easier to install ? I do not think any of these implications are true, except (4). A stable driver API would certainly imply (4). But I see no relation to (a) -- actually, an API would bring complications and thus bloat, if anything. I see no relation to (2). And (3) just seems like a wild guess. I agree that (4) would be a good thing. The problem is, its really not what we have here today and not what any of the kernel developers want. 95% of the drivers (and 100% of those that the kernel developers use) _are_ source-based and in the tree, so why have a stable API for them? In other words, yes, (4) is nice. But not that nice, as a stable API and driver interface implies a lot of other things that are not necessarily good. On the bright side, I do think that we will see a much more stable API in 2.6. 2.4.n for n after Marcelo took over has also been stable. Robert Love - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/