Les Mikesell wrote: >>> The difference is >>> that closed source OS's rarely change their driver interfaces, so it >>> would be extremely unusual for something that already works and I have >>> put into production to suddenly fail due to an update. >> >> I find this an astonishing assertion. >> Surely the Linux kernel interface changes reasonably often? > > I think you misunderstood. I said closed source - as opposed to Linux - > doesn't change driver interfaces often. With Linux the kernel changes > continuously but it is up to the distribution what is shipped. RHEL > maintains something stable. Fedora doesn't. But a closed source driver has to interface with the Linux kernel. >>> In fedora, this >>> has been a regular occurrence. >> >> Such as? > > Firewire disk drives are my favorite example. The MPT scsi controllers > on IBM servers and some Dells have also failed to work with several > fedora kernels. Has this actually got anything to do with Fedora? Did Fedora modify the kernel SCSI driver in some way? Or is the driver not in the kernel? Just to repeat my argument. I would have thought a closed source driver was much less likely to keep up with kernel changes than a Linux driver. My (limited) experience with closed source Linux drivers is that they generally specify that they work with a given kernel.
