Re: Linux vs. libio

[Marc Lehmann <pcg at opengroup dot org>]

On Mon, Dec 20, 1999 at 03:29:27PM -0800, Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com> wrote:
>     Jeffrey> Not a bad idea.  On a branch would be fine by me.  We
>     Jeffrey> have used that scheme for similar purposes in the past.
> 
> If that's what the steering committee, or whoever decides this kind of
> thing, wants to do, then that's what we'll do.
> 
> But, I think it's really not a good idea.
> 
> In practice, this will lead to a lot less testing.
> 
> Doing the new ABI work has already spotted bugs in the compiler, and
> requires various other cleanups.  We'll lose those advantages in the
> mainline, and there will be semi-serious divergence.

Frankly, I do not understand these arguments.

While I am in favour of including this work in cvs, the idea of a branch
seems very reasonable for me.

If you wanted, you could make -fnew-abi the default there, so, instead of

  "for testing, you compile with -fnew-abi"

you do this:

  "for testing, check out -rlibio_new_abi"

My main problems with your reasoning is that you say, on one side: "all
code will be #ifdef'd out", but on the other side: "a branch will not be
tested as much" and "we might even be able to detect errors".

I think this needs clarification. For me, none of your arguments against a
branch seem to have substance.

Many similar projects have started as a branch first, and are now
integrated in the mainline sources.

Doing it on a branch (but in cvs) is as much open development as it being
on the main trunk. And it is a *major* help for the other maintainers (and
for the release manager(s)), in that it isolates the (substancial) patch
from the rest.

I do think you could just as well live with a branch, at least for some
time, until a solution for the libio problem is found.

And we do appreciate your work!

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