Re: Linux Future
Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl> writes:
> Putting it another way:
> * the monolithic design has a huge freeness problem. To do anything not on
> a rigid list of features you need to learn the intricaties of a large
> complex system, and you can be certain that even if you manage to do so,
> your patches will have a hard time getting accepted, and features you base
> your code on will be thrown away on a whim every couple of years or so.
> * In Unix, on the other hand, the barrier is typically mere knowledge of
> scripting, in shell or any language of your preference. Small
> components are easy to document (in man pages, etc) by the virtue of
> no single part being complex.
> * the Unix way almost guarantees you will do things wrong. While writing
> something that works is easy, making it work in corner cases requires
> serious research every time. Unlike a streamlined system, there's a
> twisty maze of little init scripts, all alike -- yet usually with small
> differences that do matter. Managing interactions becomes hard.
> * A monolithic system has a global view of the system, instead of a
> guerilla war in every corner.
Yes, that sounds pretty much right to me.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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