Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Ioannis Aslanidis <aslanidis@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-dev@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] New ALSA maintainers
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:09:08
Message-Id: ea440b1d0703280905je8be98ar7bbeab8d5d1844c0@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-dev] New ALSA maintainers by Daniel Drake
1 Anyhow, I would like to see alsa-drivers removed, but only with the
2 condition that the in-kernel ALSA drivers work as expected. The bug I
3 mentioned, if you reread it, you will notice that if there was no
4 external alsa-driver, hda-intel would be marked broken as well, for
5 some users.
6
7 Just to make it short, in-kernel hda-intel works for some people, but
8 it doesn't for others. The logical bug to be fixed is that the kernel
9 guys (not our kernel guys) check what's going wrong in there. If that
10 did happen, then your point of view wouldn't need any argumentation.
11
12 What really has annoyed me is the fact that the external driver works,
13 and I hope to see that not happen again. Unfortunately, that's not in
14 my hands right now.
15
16 If we are able to convince upstream maintainers about this, to report
17 the bugs properly and to get them fixed as required, we could go ahead
18 and remove alsa-drivers. Until that happens, seeing the current
19 proofs, the best choice is "if it works don't fix it".
20
21 On 3/28/07, Daniel Drake <dsd@g.o> wrote:
22 > Ioannis Aslanidis wrote:
23 > > Well, to be honest, I am neither supporter nor detractor. I think that
24 > > it's upstream that should go and fix themselves. It's them who have
25 > > caused all this.
26 >
27 > The bug you linked to is a natural effect of maintaining kernel drivers
28 > outside of the kernel source tree.
29 >
30 > It is not the fault of the alsa-driver maintainers (either Gentoo or
31 > upstream people who push tarballs), since they don't control the
32 > in-kernel API's.
33 >
34 > It's not the kernels fault because the kernel does not claim to maintain
35 > a stable internal API, and it actually readily claims the opposite. This
36 > is not going to change. With reference to the problems an unstable
37 > internal API causes, kernel people will give you one answer and one
38 > answer only: get your code in the kernel. Problems like these simply do
39 > not happen there.
40 >
41 > So, in this particular case, if the alsa-driver portage package did not
42 > exist, the bug in question (plus a whole series of others in the same
43 > class) simply will not ever occur. This is a good thing.
44 >
45 > > ALSA guys do not support in-kernel stuff.
46 >
47 > ALSA guys being upstream alsa-project.org people? That's not correct,
48 > they are the people who put the code in the kernel.
49 >
50 > ALSA guys being downstream gentoo maintainers? That's true, since there
51 > is a separate team who maintain the kernel.
52 >
53 > > Kernel guys do not support alsa stuff.
54 >
55 > Upstream kernel guys? No, they support alsa, actually most of the bugs
56 > are handled by the alsa-project.org people who generally handle them
57 > very well.
58 >
59 > Downstream kernel guys (i.e. Gentoo kernel herd)? No, we support the
60 > sound subsystem and the ALSA drivers just like all other subsystems and
61 > drivers in the kernel.
62 >
63 > Thanks,
64 > Daniel
65 > --
66 > gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list
67 >
68 >
69
70
71 --
72 Ioannis Aslanidis
73
74 <deathwing00[at]gentoo.org> 0xB9B11F4E
75 --
76 gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-dev] New ALSA maintainers "William L. Thomson Jr." <wltjr@g.o>