Re: Linux is moving too fast

I only read the first article.

As a non programmer I don't think I can comment on kernel development.
Unless I get a broken kernel. In that case I would be complaining. This
leads me to my first question.

How often do Linux distributions such as Red Hat or Debian get released
with a broken kernel?

The reason I ask this question is because Linux "users" get their kernel
from the distribution maintainers. I get my kernel from the Ubuntu
developers. So far I haven't had any problems. I haven't seen any one
else complaining either.

Are the Distribution maintainers such as Red Hat or Debian complaining
about the kernel and kernel development?

If the answer to this question is yes then I would start to worry. I
don't keep up on kernel issues so I don't know how the distributions are
doing. I take what they give me and hope for the best. Again, I'm happy
with what they have been giving me so far.

The open source world moves at an amazing pace. I started using Linux
back in 1999. Back then I was unable to use it as a workstation. Getting
X configured was tough. Now all I do is put in the CD, click install and
wait. The distribution detects my hardware and configures it for me. In
the case of Ubuntu it even installs 3D support so I can run the 3D
effects from compiz.

As a Linux "user" I am at the mercy of the developers. If they break
something and I get the broken code I'm in big trouble. If they stop
developing new software and features I'm also in big trouble.

Now on to something a little more fun. Well, maybe.

   1. Do you compile your own kernel?
   2. If yes why?

Fielder George Dowding wrote:
> Kevin Miller wrote:
>
>> Arthur Corliss wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings:
>>>
>>> In reference to the previous thread we had on the increasing bugginess of
>>> Linux there's this article:
>>>
>>> http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202404635
>>>
>>> It's an unfortunate state of affairs, and core maintainers recognize it. I
>>> think Linus is dead wrong, and hopefully his lieutenants will sway him back
>>> to the good side of the force.
>>>
>> And the other side of the coin: http://lwn.net/Articles/255315/
>>
>>
>
> Thanks to both Arthur and Kevin. I read both articles (Charles Babcock's
> "How Linux Is Testing The Limits Of Open Source Development" in
> _Information_Week (IW)_, and the response by corbet in Linux Weekly News
> (lwn)). Quite frankly, after reading the IW piece I was ready for the
> lwn response.
>
> Now then, what, if anything, shall we AKLUG'ers do?
>
> Can those of us in AKLUG who are interested in such things, band
> together to help with debugging the kernel? This seems to be a need that
> Babcock brought up and even quoted corbet in lwn (it must have been a
> previous article that I didn't read):
>
> <blockquote>At the summit, Morton said he wanted to appoint "a nasty
> person" to be kernel bugmaster, someone to identify bug sources and
> "beat up on developers who do not fix bugs," according to kernel
> developer Jonathan Corbet's account, published by the Linux Foundation.
> Natalie Protasevich was named bugmaster, and Morton says she has brought
> more discipline to bug clean-up, even if she falls short of his
> description of preferred temperament. There were more than 1,500 bugs in
> the kernel's Bugzilla database; it's down to 1,400.
> </blockquote>
>
> I have a difficult time telling the difference between a software bug,
> bad hardware, and my own fat finger and slow speed brain when things
> don't seem to be working the way I either expect or want.
>
> Perhaps helping Natalie in not something of wide enough interest for
> AKLUG'ers to support. I bet there is something, like the Friday Night
> Laboratory Session, that a sub-group could take on to help free software
> in dominating the world.
>

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Received on Wed Oct 24 07:34:46 2007