At Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:32:04 +0000, Matthias Scheler
<tron%zhadum.org.uk@localhost> wrote:
Subject: Re: GENERIC kernel "modules" implementation info?
>
> I would actually prefer to re-add all the file-system and other
> modular components to "GENERIC", resurrect the "MODULAR" kernel
> configuration and keep it that way until 6.0 has been released.
> After the 6.0 release most users should have a module aware
> boot loader and somebody will hopefully have address the
> short-comings of our module support.(*)
Indeed. That makes the most sense given the current state of modular
kernel support in NetBSD as a whole. Jumping directly into a whole new
world order without a period of adjustment for release users would be a
good excuse for many of them to ditch the system entirely, and
regardless it will cause far more grief than necessary for those
supporting users through upgrades.
Besides there are going to be many of us building embedded systems who
will never use modular kernels anyway (even if on platforms supporting
modular kernels), and perhaps quite a few of us who build server
platforms who won't use modular kernels in production most of the time
either.
Modular kernels are good for the people designing and distributing
portable operating systems, and for initially installing such systems on
highly variable hardware platforms -- they're not so good for the people
actually using those operating systems after they've been installed,
when they should remain stable, and when they should even fail safely on
any "change", and they should not try to adapt to conditions where they
cannot possibly work properly and meet production requirements.
Way back in 1988 through to about 1995 I used a quite common unix system
which provided the best of both worlds with modular kernels. It had a
mode where it would do a system configuration boot using full hardware
probes and dynamic module loading. It then saved a static kernel for
fast, stable, and reliable reboots during its normal production use.
Perhaps NetBSD will catch up to that old unix system technology yet! :-)
--
Greg A. Woods
Planix, Inc.
<woods%planix.com@localhost> +1 416 218 0099 http://www.planix.com/
Attachment:
pgprdcrwfDy4h.pgp
Description: PGP signature