From: Stephen Clark Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:41:38 GMT Subject: Re: Reporting bugs and bisection Message-ID: <4805F402.1020603@earthlink.net> In-Reply-To: david@lang.hm wrote: > On Wed, 16 Apr 2008, David Newall wrote: > >> Rafael J. Wysocki wrote: >>> Well, even if someone introduces bugs relatively frequently, but then >>> also >>> works with the reporters and fixes the bugs timely, it's about okay IMO. >>> >> This really is not okay. Even if bugs are fixed a version or two later, >> the impact those bugs have on users makes the system look bad and drives >> them away. We do not, I believe, want Linux to top the list for "most >> bugs". It's unprofessional, unreliable and quite undesirable. > > timely frequently means the code was merged in -rc1/2 and was fixed > before the final release of the same version. > > given the huge variety of hardware and workloads, it's just too easy for > there to be cases where any trade-off you make (code size, performance, > memory usage, common case definitions) can turn around and bite you. In > addition frequently hardware doesn't work quite the way the design specs > say that it should (completely ignoring the fact that many drivers are > reverse engineered). what's most important is that when a case shows up > it gets addressed promptly > > I'd rather have a developer/maintainer who introduces and fixed 100 bug, > but fixes them promptly, as opposed to one who only introduces one bug, > but refuses to consider fixing the code 'because they don't make > mistakes like that' (usadly a common attitude from people who produce > very good code much of the time) > > best of all is a developer/maintainer who writes very good code and is > willing to accept the fact that they make mistakes and fixes the code > promptly, but those people are extremely rare, and usually they emerge > from the pool of people who make more mistakes and fix them promptly, > which is an added reason I'm more tolerant of that group. > > David Lang > Having been a Linux user since the late 90's the problem I see is that developers decide to re-design stuff that is already working and then things that used to work don't work anymore. Libata is a good example. I had an older laptop that eventually got working again - but the old ide stuff wasn't studied enough to find out what had to be brought forward and supported in libata. Regards, Steve -- "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin) "The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." (Thomas Jefferson)