Re: Debian conflicts with FHS on /usr/include/{linux,asm}

[Raul Miller <rdm@test.legislate.com>]

Brian Servis <servis@purdue.edu> wrote:
> My orginal post was with regards to the FHS standard which states that
> the /usr/include/{linux,asm} directories should be links to the current
> kernel headers.

Personally, I think that aspect of the FHS is broken, and that
we should talk to them about the issue they raise in the rationale:

  It is important that the kernel include files be located in
  /usr/src/linux and not in /usr/include so there are no problems when
  system administrators upgrade their kernel version for the first time.


Namely, that software which requires that the user install the source
for the currently running kernel under /usr/src/linux and recompile
it before it can be used is going to cause long term problems for the
sysadmin (if a person relies on such software how are they going to deal
with issues which require them to switch back and forth between several
distinct kernels?).  And, that introducing this requirement into the
standard is going to be bad in the long run (as would requiring that the
last chunk of memory passed to free() be accessible by a program until
the next malloc() "because some programs require this").

Anyways, this part of the FHS is broken -- it only makes things easier
for people who want to use broken software.  [And, yeah, I'm aware that
I'm classifying a couple very important pieces of work as broken.  And,
no, I'm not volunteering to fix them -- I don't use them.]

-- 
Raul