On Sun, 8 Oct 2000, Lucio De Re wrote:

> That would mean that different platforms need not track each other (did
> Solaris have that problem?) and that the user isn't guaranteed platform
> compatibility (we have some incompatibilities in NetBSD, haven't we?).

  Right, different Linux ports maintain separate trees at separate places
that are synced occasionally.  Some are even branched off of other
branches, such as LinuxVR which is separate from the main mips tree which
is separate from the main tree.

  NetBSD still does have incompatibilities, but the amount of unshared code
is fairly small and getting smaller.  When certain MD functions should be
available to userland, they are placed in a separate library (like
libi386).

> And, if commercial considerations push Linux into a standardised
> distribution, a lot of its advantages will evaporate in the heat of
> conformity. 

  Actually, fractured Linux kernel source doesn't have much to do with
fractured Linux distributions.  But Linux would certainly have a lot of
work to do to catch up to NetBSD in code quality, and a lot of the work of
porting Linux is being paid for by vendors who have commercial unicies
they still want to sell or who sell support and training and are happy to 
bill you to fix or work around the bugs.

Matthew Orgass
darkstar@pgh.net