138 captures

28 Aug 1999 - 28 Jun 2025

Sep	OCT	Nov
	07
2015	2016	2017

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About this capture

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Collection: Wikipedia Outlinks March 2016

Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections.

TIMESTAMPS

To:	linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
From:	torvalds@transmeta.com (Linus Torvalds)
Subject: Re: Kernel interface changes (was Re: cdrecord problems on
Date:	7 Feb 1999 08:15:24 GMT

In article <79g5bu$spd$1@palladium.transmeta.com>,
H. Peter Anvin <hpa@transmeta.com> wrote:
>
>* Linus Torvalds has no interest whatsoever in developing such a
>  plug-in ABI.  Someone else is welcome to do it.

No, it's even more than that.

I _refuse_ to even consider tying my hands over some binary-only module.

Hannu Savolainen tried to add some layering to make the sound modules
more "portable" among Linux kernel versions, and I disliked it for two
reasons:

 - extra layers decrease readability, and sometimes make for performance
   problems.  The readability thing is actually the larger beef I had
   with this: I just don't want to see drivers start using some strange
   wrapper format that has absolutely nothing to do with how they work. 

 - I _want_ people to expect that interfaces change. I _want_ people to
   know that binary-only modules cannot be used from release to release.
   I want people to be really really REALLY aware of the fact that when
   they use a binary-only module, they tie their hands. 

Note that the second point is mainly psychological, but it's by far the
most important one. 

Basically, I want people to know that when they use binary-only modules,
it's THEIR problem.  I want people to know that in their bones, and I
want it shouted out from the rooftops.  I want people to wake up in a
cold sweat every once in a while if they use binary-only modules. 

Why? Because I'm a prick, and I want people to suffer? No.

Because I _know_ that I will eventually make changes that break modules. 
And I want people to expect them, and I never EVER want to see an email
in my mailbox that says "Damn you, Linus, I used this binary module for
over two years, and it worked perfectly across 150 kernel releases, and
Linux-5.6.71 broke it, and you had better fix your kernel". 

See?

I refuse to be at the mercy of any binary-only module.  And that's why I
refuse to care about them - not because of any really technical reasons,
not because I'm a callous bastard, but because I refuse to tie my hands
behind my back and hear somebody say "Bend Over, Boy, Because You Have
It Coming To You". 

I allow binary-only modules, but I want people to know that they are
_only_ ever expected to work on the one version of the kernel that they
were compiled for. Anything else is just a very nice unexpected bonus if
it happens to work.

And THAT, my friend, is why when somebody complains about AFS, I tell
them to go screw themselves, and not come complaining to me but complain
to the AFS buys and girls.  And why I'm not very interested in changing
that. 

		Linus

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