[mythtv-users] Ubuntu Edgy -> Feisty upgrade report

[Brian Wood]

Brian J. Murrell wrote:
>
> Uhm, libata has been coming for a long time.  Maybe *you* didn't get any
> warning but it's been coming down the kernel pike for a long time.  But
> again, I am asking for specific examples of software where a change
> from /dev/hd* to /dev/sd* cannot be handled.


Hey, hey. Take it easy, we're all on the same side.

It just seems to me that an awful lot of problems I have had getting
Myth systems as well as others up and running turn out to be due to
changes that have been made in the kernel between the time some software
was written and the latest kernel came out. Dbus, DVB, IVTV, nVidia
drivers, the sg interface, syscth.h come to mind immediately. Granted
the ultimate goals were well-intended and needed, I'm just complaining
about the way it was handled.

How was I supposed to know about the latest changes to libata? I just
happened to run into the info here. I looked through the docs on my most
recent kernel source trees and did not find any info about it in 10
minutes of looking. It may well be there, but I haven't found it yet.

I don't have time to read the kernel mailing list(s). I found no obvious
mention of it on the kernel.org site.

So how is a user to know about this before it bites him?

My main point was that we once had a system that would have solved this
problem (I consider it one anyway). The odd/even system let users who
wanted a stable kernel have one, and folks who wanted to be on the
bleeding edge could do that.

Today the 2.4 kernel is not getting updated except for glaring security
or stability problems. So much new has going into 2.6 that it is no
longer viable for a lot of applications (like Myth). There is no "not
being played around with" kernel option anymore, only a moving target.

Of course the change "can be handled", but "handling" it can also be
described as "taking up my time", no matter how little.

Several companies have stated they are reluctant to supply Linux drivers
for various products due to the fast-changing nature of the kernel
interfaces, a quick google search will show this.

So my main complaint is not this particular change, but the cavalier way
in which changes in general are being handled. I suppose I could have
made that point better.

But it's still better than Windows.