Re: hurd does NOT need /hurd
On Sun, May 19, 2002 at 09:07:53PM -0500, Adam Heath wrote:
> On 19 May 2002, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
>
> > The other is the RPC interfaces that the servers use to talk to each
> > other. These are basically static, and don't change except by
> > extension.
>
> You can't honestly expect this to always be the case. No one can implement
> everything perfectly the first time around.
>
Hmm... there _are_ interfaces which we have all accepted as being
unversioned. The linux system call interface springs to mind. It has
remained "stable enough" so far, mainly because it can always be extended
by adding new system calls and sometimes deprecating (but still supporting)
old system calls. Keeping the interface stable requires extra effort,
but it's generally considered worthwhile even in the long term.
Even when backward compatibility is broken (for example if a.out support
is completely dropped), it's not going to be a complete break. Specific
features that no-one uses anymore can be dropped, without requiring a
switch to a new interface.
Richard Braakman
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