[libc-alpha] Re: [open-source] Re: Wish for 2002

[Linus Torvalds]

On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Mark Brown wrote:
>
> On Thursday, January 10, 2002, at 11:29  AM, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> > While _I_ think it's an argument for trying to make glibc go on a diet.
>
> Keeping in mind that whatever we add, we will have hell trying to
> remove. Binary compatibility is going to be the keyword here...

Yes.

>From a development standpoint it might just be a good idea to start over
with a new major number, and start from basically zero (ie start from some
"POSIX+SuS-required" set rather than the existing one).

Exactly because it is easier to add later than to remove. And it's good to
leave the old behind every once in a while (and get rid of the cruft that
accumulated for binary compatibility)

But as with all cleanup, very few developers actually _want_ to do this.
It's work, and it doesn't get you that warm fuzzy feeling of doing
something new and exciting.

			Linus