On Thu, 2007-05-31 at 22:51 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: > Gilboa Davara wrote: > > > OK. > > I use Linux -because- I get a chance to do what I want with the kernel. > > Doesn't suite you? Fine! > > Yes, I thought unix was fairly complete when sysvr4 incorporated the BSD > additions in the early 90's. I was happy the first time I had a year of > uptime with one of those and I just want one that works. > > You are using the -wrong- OS. > > If you want a stable kernel ABI that doesn't break every 3 months, you > > -really- have no business using Fedora. > > That's a great description. Can you arrange to have that put in large > letters on the home and download pages? "Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the ====latest==== in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join." If do not agree with this "mission statement" and such, you have no business using it. It is as simple as that. > > You are looking for stable ABI, slow update rate less breakage. > > In short, you are looking for RHEL/CentOS/Etch/SLES. > > As I said, you are using the wrong distribution. > > The enterprise versions are good for running server software which, like > unix kernel design, has been stable and mostly feature-complete for > ages. It doesn't work for desktop software which is still evolving > rapidly and good versions will come out any day now. Same goes for driver support. SATA, RAID, SCSI, graphics cards, etc. You want a stable ABI but new drivers... though. Unless you are willing to port the new drivers yourself (which is not always possible), you'll have to choose. Stable ABI with lacking driver support or better driver support with unstable ABI. ... Hey, but if you don't agree with me, it's GPL, you are free to create your own "bleeding edge desktop, stable kernel" distro. Heck, you can even use RHEL/CentOS as your base for free! > What we need is a distro where the kernel and device related utilities never have to be > updated other than with security patches but the applications can be > kept current without having to build your own distro from parts. We? Sorry, I don't agree with you. Never the less, if your really believe in that "we" part, you should really consider creating your own distribution, as opposed to trying to change Fedora to what it will never be. > An occasional application crash is a lot easier to tolerate (and would be > even more so if you had the option to revert to the prior version > easily) than a kernel that no longer works with your devices. True. Though... at least in my case, if Evolution, VIM and/or firefox stops working for a long duration, it is just as bad as a kernel crash. - Gilboa
