Re: Introducing the patchadd binary patch toolchain

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb%cs.columbia.edu@localhost>]

On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:41:07 -0400 (EDT)
der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost> wrote:

> > The lack of binary patches is a major deficiency in NetBSD.
> 
> It is also a major asset, and everything in between.
> 
> Where on that spectrum it falls for any particular person depends on
> that person's goodness metric.  Not everyone shares your point of
> view.
> 
If the choice were binary-only or source-only, I'd definitely pick the
latter.  If the choice were TNF-built binary patches vs. home-build
source, again I'd pick the latter.  But if I'm running many machines, I
want an easy way to ship out binaries, whether I choose to use ones I
build or the ones that TNF will (presumably) provide.  Source-only just
doesn't scale very well, especially for tiny machines.


                --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb