Originally posted by profoundWHALE
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Lennart: The State & Future Of Systemd
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Originally posted by profoundWHALE View PostHere's the point with software engineering, 10 years down the road it can be doing the same thing it originally did. Sure it won't take advantage of newer hardware and extensions only make it go so far, but it's not going to randomly break on its own. There might be a compatibility issue, but that is true in the real world too; car parts that aren't interchangeable. The difference is with software you can have all the advantages!
Software needs both active maintenance and regular evolution paths. Probably even more than the "real world", because most of the maintenance must be done by engineers too.
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Originally posted by erendorn View PostThe thing is, software doesn't exist independently. You cannot design your software with making it last forever in mind, because what you end up with is "legacy software" (if it's important) or "removed/unused" (if it's not).
Software needs both active maintenance and regular evolution paths. Probably even more than the "real world", because most of the maintenance must be done by engineers too.
Legacy is usually neglected or outdated, but it never wears and tears by itself. That's the point.
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IceWM is a legavy desktop and it works fine
Originally posted by erendorn View PostThe thing is, software doesn't exist independently. You cannot design your software with making it last forever in mind, because what you end up with is "legacy software" (if it's important) or "removed/unused" (if it's not).
Software needs both active maintenance and regular evolution paths. Probably even more than the "real world", because most of the maintenance must be done by engineers too.
Not all legacy software is garbage or incompatable! That netbook uses systemd for startup and has no trouble at all going into a DE that predates systemd by a decade.
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Originally posted by Luke View PostNot all legacy software is garbage or incompatable! That netbook uses systemd for startup and has no trouble at all going into a DE that predates systemd by a decade.
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Originally posted by profoundWHALE View PostUh, cars, buildings, roads, and more all need maintenance. Developers have to patch security holes just like construction workers who have to patch roads and such that aren't safe.
Legacy is usually neglected or outdated, but it never wears and tears by itself. That's the point.
But as you wrote it yourself, maintenance on roads and cars are done by workers, not by architects or car designers/engineers, while software is maintained by developers. Read again the sentence you emphasized and misunderstood.
In any case legacy wears out by gradually becoming unfit for purpose (and many other causes). It doesn't matter if original code is still up to original specs. You'll have to change it or replace it at some point. The end results is the same, so claiming that it is lexically distinct is completely pointless.
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