Re: F7 Kernel 2.6.22.1-33.fc7 USB stick

Timothy Murphy wrote on Tuesday 31 July 2007:

If a developer makes a change which prevents the software working
with some hardware it previously worked with,
I think the onus is on the developer to warn the user of this.

How would they know that it doesn't work on hardware that they don't
have?

If someone makes a change in the way software operates,
he should consider (in my view) if there is any hardware
on which this might not work.
It is not actually necessary to have the hardware
in order to work this out.

I don't know whether you are involved in software development of any kind
but your statement suggests that you are not.

It is beyond any question that a developer SHOULD consider if there is any
hardware which might be affected by a change. But we are not living in a
perfect world. People make mistakes and the complexity of a software
makes it impossible to consider every side effect of a change - at least
not at justifiable costs. There are formal methods to prove software
correct - but even those are only applicable under very precise
conditions.

Even Donald E. Knuth said: "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only
proved it correct, not tried it."

Any test on software can only prove there are some bugs, but not that a
software is bug-free under any circumstances.

2. The actual question was about a change
between Fedora kernels 2.6.22.1-27 and 2.6.22.1-33.
In other words, "improvements" to the same Linux kernel.

I would call it "changes". Not every change is a improvement -
obviously. :) That the finest thing about Linux - if you do not like the
changes, you can stick to the old kernel.

In my experience, Fedora is very little different to Ubuntu
or other distributions in this sense.
And Fedora software does not seem to me any more or less likely
to work than Redhat software.

I cannot agree. We used RHEL and Fedora - RHEL (and CentOS) for the
servers and Fedora for workstations. There are many differences, even if
the administration is very simmilar. RHEL comes with older software which
has been in use for longer time. And the kernels are rather old. RHEL had
kernel 2.4 for a long time, Debian stable even kernel 2.2. At this time
kernel 2.6 was already declared stable and had been integrated into
Fedora. New kernels have better support for new hardware, but older are
better tested. That is what is important for an admin.

--
bye,
Adalbert

CPU needs recalibration

--
fedora-list mailing list
fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

Relevant Pages

  • hardware question: Intel entry server board SE7221BK1 & Fedora Core 3
    ... hardware experiences - I still have in mind a community feeded database ... of compatible and non-compatible hardware for Fedora. ... "costs" to need a specific kernel for the provided drivers & tools. ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Fedora - DELL ?
    ... Fedora second, and Suse third out of the big three. ... purview of the user and not the developer. ... which essentially is what this kernel threat is doing. ... module license 'great_unwashed' taints kernel. ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Fedora Core 5 Issues
    ... I've often seen this mantra that Fedora is "bleeding edge" ... Fortunately it keeps the running kernel, ... So this again is independent of distribution. ... Which distribution do you consider tests on more hardware? ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: help
    ... Linux uses loadable modules to extend the kernel for different hardware. ... Fedora uses a hardware detector called Kudzu at boot time, ... Your message suggests that the installation routine for your hardware has ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: F7 Kernel 2.6.22.1-33.fc7 USB stick
    ... for you before releasing updates - Fedora isn't RHEL you know, ... Timothy Murphy: ... I think the onus is on the developer to warn the user of this. ... How would they know that it doesn't work on hardware that they don't ...
    (Fedora)