A Stable Linux Kernel API/ABI? "The Most Insane Proposal" For Linux Development

[birdie]

Don't Red Hat do something like that? They maintain a stable kernel, and backports updates from the new ones..

RedHat mainly backports very specific storage and network drivers. That's all. Besides, you cannot even imagine the amount of work to make that possible. Take a look at their patches for the Linux kernel - they are HUGE.

[anarki2]

Linux' hardware support out of the box is pretty good.

Yeah, pretty good. On my 1 year old config it only errors out on storage, sound, wifi and display. Some pretty good support you got there.

[YoungManKlaus]

who has contributed to the upstream Linux kernel just in the form of reporting issues and testing patches

Right, who cares if stuff actually runs once it's written? Fuck those testers! /s
Seriously though, what shit attitude is that, Mike?

[buraktamturk]

In windows kernel, you can't even get process list without using undocumented functions and offsets, and the offsets could change anytime, even after a simple update. You can not change thread context (unless you know about undocumented apc api and trap frame offset), you can not expose vmcall (ms calls it hypercall) to a hyper-v guest (it is very easy task to do it on KVM, even you can add additional data to the kvm struct).

I know it because I was used to write hacks and bots on games and these games usually had anti-cheat protection. What I do is offload a virtual machine into the running computer (your code emulates the physical computer CPU) and I hook int1, int14, sysenter, cr3 and maintain a list of offsets for each windows version. Even windows don't know that I am bypassing Kernel Patch Protection.

[darkbasic]

RedHat mainly backports very specific storage and network drivers. That's all. Besides, you cannot even imagine the amount of work to make that possible. Take a look at their patches for the Linux kernel - they are HUGE.

While I agree that their work is HUGE, still Red Hat backports *tons* of drivers and sometimes they have to backport entire subsystems to make it possible.

[duby229]

Yeah, pretty good. On my 1 year old config it only errors out on storage, sound, wifi and display. Some pretty good support you got there.

And that is entirely your own fault. Before you buy hardware you need to check for support. You know what distribution you use and so you need to check if your current distro supports the hardware you buy. It really is that simple. (It hasn't changed for decades now, so either you're an idiot or a troll.)

If you're not an idiot then linux does have fantastic support.

[birdie]

And that is entirely your own fault. Before you buy hardware you need to check for support. You know what distribution you use and so you need to check if your current distro supports the hardware you buy. It really is that simple. (It hasn't changed for decades now, so either you're an idiot or a troll.)

If you're not an idiot then linux does have fantastic support.

LOL, open source fanatics.

In just two paragraphs two conflicting ideas: "linux does have fantastic support" vs "buy hardware you need to check for support". If it's fantastic, why bother checking?

Different distros? Are you new to Linux or what? They all have the same kernel.

[duby229]

LOL, open source fanatics.

In just two paragraphs two conflicting ideas: "linux does have fantastic support" vs "buy hardware you need to check for support". If it's fantastic, why bother checking?

Different distros? Are you new to Linux or what? They all have the same kernel.

Now I know for a fact your not an idiot so obviously trolling....

You know just as well as I do that distributions choose a kernel version for whatever reason and that most hardware vendors are hostile to open source. If you want supported hardware then you have no choice but to buy supported hardware by your your current distribution. That isn't any different now than it was 20 years ago. DUH!

If you do make sure to buy supported hardware then you will never have problems with unsupported hardware. And the fact is that Linux has the widest range of supported hardware than -any- other kernel. Period.

[anarki2]

And that is entirely your own fault. Before you buy hardware you need to check for support. You know what distribution you use and so you need to check if your current distro supports the hardware you buy. It really is that simple. (It hasn't changed for decades now, so either you're an idiot or a troll.)

If you're not an idiot then linux does have fantastic support.

Yeah, sorry if we don't settle with poor hardware and want to use bleeding-edge, hidg-end hardware. It's MY FAULT. This is the exact mentality why Linux will never succeed on the desktop.

[duby229]

Yeah, sorry if we don't settle with poor hardware and want to use bleeding-edge, hidg-end hardware. It's MY FAULT. This is the exact mentality why Linux will never succeed on the desktop.

So you really are an idiot, you think that because something is proprietary and recently released that somehow makes it a better choice? At least my hardware choices work for me and so will anybody else's that isn't an idiot.