Re: RELEASE BLOCKER: Linux doesn't follow x86/x86-64 ABI wrt direction flag

[Robert Dewar <dewar at adacore dot com>]

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Robert Dewar wrote:
> > H.J. Lu wrote:
> >
> > > So that is the bug in the Linux kernel. Since fixing kernel is much 
> > > easier
> > > than providing a workaround in compilers, I think kernel should be fixed
> > > and no need for icc/gcc fix.
> > Fixing a bug in the Linux kernel is not "much easier". You are taking
> > a purely engineering viewpoint, but life is not like that. There are
> > lots of copies of Linux kernels around and in use. The issue is not
> > fixing the kernel per se, it is propagating that change to all
> > Linux kernels in use -- THAT'S another matter entirely, and is
> > far far more difficult than making sure that a kernel fix is
> > qualified and widely proopagated.
>
> Not really, it's just a matter of time.  Typical distro cycles are on 
> the order of 3 years.
>
> 	-hpa

again, in the real world, there are MANY projects that are nothing
like this interactive when it comes to moving to new versions of
operating systems.