Re: [gentoo-user] kernel 2.6.25-r6 oddities; is this kernel really ready for stable?

[Kevin O'Gorman]

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 1:53 AM, Sebastian Wiesner
<basti.wiesner@×××.net> wrote:
> You were ever able to built a kernel without warnings?!  You certainly must
> have some magic in your hands ;)  Kernel developers always had a dismissive
> attitude towards compiler warnings, non-serious warnings are rarely fixed.

Hmm.  Looks like I was kidding myself, probably not paying attention so long as
nothing I needed actually broke.  Oddly enough, I find this reassuring.

>
>> So what's a poor user to do?  Believe the first poster responding with
>> (apparent) authority?  Maybe.  I'm just going to stay away for a while
>> and see what shakes out.
>
> Obviously, despite all the warnings, a proper kernel binary was created.
> You wouldn't stop using a software just because of all the warnings, that
> are issued by a normal emerge, so why to are you taking warnings during a
> kernel build so much more serious?

Because of a mistaken impression I had.

>> >> All that being said, the compilation completes, and I can boot it.  I
>> >> don't know the cause, but I have been unable to get vmware-server
>> >> running on it, and I'm going back to the previous kernel for that
>> >> reason.
>> >
>> > complain to vmware - it's their closed source crap that doesn't work.
>>
>> I have less clout with vmware than I have with the kernel team, I
>> would guess, because I don't pay either one, but at least the kernel
>> team are not in business to get money from me.  But reasonable
>> virtualization is essential to some of my own projects, and I have to
>> stick with it.  If I have to, I'll learn a different tools set, but
>> it's not something I take up lightly.
>
> And what are the kernel developers supposed to do regarding vmware?  And
> should a closed source software, that's most likely only used by a minority
> of Gentoo users, really stop all the other users from profiting from a
> newer and probably faster and more stable kernel?

What the devs do is not for me to say.  I just said what I will do,
and asked for
clarity from others on this list.  I got that, along with an object
lesson in being
more careful about what I put forward as "fact".

However, may I point out that a great deal of the kernel is in support
of minorities
of users? Especially in the device drivers.  There may not be another machine
on the planet with the exact mix of devices and features in my kernel.
 That is not,
I hope, a reason for you to squelch my concerns, since the same is true of
a great many individual users here.  Minorities may collectively even
be the majority.

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman, PhD