Subject: Re: kern/34935: if_re_pci.c needs updating
To: None <kern-bug-people@netbsd.org, gnats-admin@netbsd.org,>
From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@shagadelic.org>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 10/30/2006 22:55:05
The following reply was made to PR kern/34935; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@shagadelic.org>
To: Perry E.Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
Cc: Izumi Tsutsui <tsutsui@ceres.dti.ne.jp>, gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org,
	kern-bug-people@NetBSD.org, gnats-admin@NetBSD.org,
	netbsd-bugs@NetBSD.org
Subject: Re: kern/34935: if_re_pci.c needs updating
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:04:22 -0800

 On Oct 30, 2006, at 9:47 AM, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
 
 > We don't have the fix FreeBSD did for the checksum issue -- turning
 > off the checksum assists is not a fix.
 
 I think there is active work on determining the CORRECT fix for the  
 checksum issue, so this is a red herring.
 
 > If you can't trust
 > Bill Paul to be right on this, how could you trust him to have written
 > the correct driver in the first place? It is his code.
 
 We have experienced before the situation where pulling changes from  
 "upstream" introduces new problems on NetBSD.  Face it, NetBSD and  
 FreeBSD have diverged significantly in how network drivers work.  A  
 FreeBSD driver is a good STARTING POINT for us, but that's really  
 about it.
 
 > If you want to close the PR with "NetBSD doesn't want to fix problems
 > fixed in FreeBSD", please, go ahead.
 
 See, now you're just being silly.  Of course NetBSD wants to fix the  
 problems, but the maintainer of that driver for NetBSD ought to be  
 free to fix them in the most appropriate manner, rather than just  
 blindly pulling over changes from another OS.
 
 > This whole conversation has been useless from the beginning. I sent
 > that PR so I wouldn't forget to try to pull in the FreeBSD fixes, and
 > since then you've been sending mail saying "it is wrong of you to want
 > to update the driver". Well, I don't see why it is wrong.
 
 Well, it certainly isn't always RIGHT to make changes to a stable code  
 base if there is nothing wrong with it.  That's the point.  Perhaps we  
 have already fixed some of the issues that FreeBSD has already fixed.   
 That's why we're asking you to identify SPECIFIC issues that FreeBSD  
 has addressed that our version of the driver has not.
 
 -- thorpej