Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932853Ab1EYOgJ (ORCPT ); Wed, 25 May 2011 10:36:09 -0400 Received: from li9-11.members.linode.com ([67.18.176.11]:36490 "EHLO test.thunk.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932280Ab1EYOgI (ORCPT ); Wed, 25 May 2011 10:36:08 -0400 Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 10:36:02 -0400 From: "Ted Ts'o" To: Michael Witten Cc: Mike Galbraith , Richard Yao , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: UNIX Compatibility Message-ID: <20110525143602.GE8476@thunk.org> Mail-Followup-To: Ted Ts'o , Michael Witten , Mike Galbraith , Richard Yao , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org References:

<20110524181619.GC26055@thunk.org> <1306297108.4819.28.camel@marge.simson.net> <64e4614dda6f4558a68a314d7b5979b5-mfwitten@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <64e4614dda6f4558a68a314d7b5979b5-mfwitten@gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: tytso@thunk.org X-SA-Exim-Scanned: No (on test.thunk.org); SAEximRunCond expanded to false Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2150 Lines: 45 On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 02:20:09PM +0000, Michael Witten wrote: > > Ted just got finished telling Richard that Richard thinks about tiny, > nit-picky, really stupid stuff on which only egg-headed paper pushers > waste time that they'll never get back. There are people who spend hours and hours worrying about the fact that if you try to unlink a directory, Linux will return EISDIR instead of EPERM. They will kill forests of trees, and cause tons and tons of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere travelling to distant meetings in Singapore, Zurich, Japan, etc., to debate standards that specify this kind of detail. How much value does this really add to the Linux ecosystem? What would you call these people? Now that the people who tried to lobby governments and academic institutions (mostly in Europe) not to use Linux, all in the name of, "because it's not Unix" are largely in full retreat, the answer is, why, pretty much none. This kind of requirement is largely gone in most procurement contracts. And of course, the supreme irony is that if your OS is encumbered with AT&T copyrighted code, you can use the Unix trademark even if you are not conformant to the Single Unix Specification. (There's an escape clause for AT&T derived-Unix systems, which are automatically "Unix" even if they fail the SUS.) Given all of that, what _use_ is the Single Unix Specification at this point? What's the _point_? And what name would you propose to call people who are worried about whether or not Linux is "Unix compatible" (whatever the hell that means)? Especially when the rest of the world is worried about being "Linux compatible", and a huge amount of software is targetted first for Linux. This idea that Linux needs to care about being "Unix compatible" keeps coming back from the grave, like some Buffy-the-vampire-slayer monster. It's time to slay it. - Ted -- 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/