Les Mikesell wrote:
On Thu, 2006-04-27 at 21:57, Mike McCarty wrote:
For a start not everyone in the world has enough bandwidth for that: so
they need iso images to be able to upgrade for example.
Here's one which may make more headway for understanding. There is
in any piece of software's life a thing called "integration test"
where it is tested with other pieces it must coexist with. Until
any given piece has been tested with other pieces, it may work
fine, or it may not, but we don't know.
That would imply that you shouldn't expect software to work
unless it all comes from a single vendor, which should
not be the case at all - and if it is, you probably
shouldn't use any of it. Your interfaces either do
what they are documented to do or not, and no amount
of changes to other parts should change that.
I guarantee you, with anything as complex as an entire
OS distribution, the interfaces do not all do exactly
what they are documented to do. Anyone believing otherwise
lives in a fantasy land.
It is true that not all software would benefit as much
from integration test as others. OTOH, things like the
compilers, linkage editors, link libraries, kernel,
server programs, device drivers, installers, disc editors
and partition managers, and boot loaders all need some
integration test.
And not with just software, either. Many BIOS are known
to be broken. And then there are different hardware for
test. Trying to test all combinations just takes too much
time.
Look at all the stuff SELinux broke.
Mike
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I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
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