Re: [tlug] Just curious... how much impact does a kernel update make?

[Noah Watkins <jayhawk@example.com>]

I just joined this conversation, but I would like to point out that  
the Linux Kernel developers have made a serious commitment to  
supporting their API. What this means is that the interface exported  
by the Kernel, which applications see (e.g. through libc), is  
practically set-in-stone when Linus accepts the change. This is part  
of the reason that adding new system calls is such a big deal.

That said, it is also worth noting standards, for example POSIX,  
which allows *anything* in the kernel to change, as long as the  
accepted behavior visible to user-space programs remains constant.  
Note that the in-Kernel API, not visible to user-space programs, is  
actually very fluid, and changes often.

- Noah

On Nov 19, 2008, at 6:47 PM, Edward Middleton wrote:

> Dave M G wrote:
> > Which comes back to my original question, how much end-result impact
> > do these new kernel features have for an end-user such as myself?
>
> One of
>
> 1. no impact.
> 2. some impact
> 3. great impact.
>
> or something in-between.
>
> You as a user, in general, interact with programs not the kernel so  
> any
> changes in the kernel will only effect you in as much as they effect
> changes in the programs you use.  This is why this is a question that
> can't be answered definitively.
>
> To clarify with an example, how will the addition of epoll improve
> things for an end user?  If the users programs aren't capable of using
> epoll they won't see any advantage, but if the programs use epoll they
> will see a massive performance improvement.
>
> > Are they making changes that don't affect me at all if I don't happen
> > to have relevant hardware?
> Yes
>
> > .. are they incrementally improving my system in some way I might
> > understand if I knew what to look for?
> Yes
>
> Edward
>
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