[NTLUG:Discuss] ssh

[Steve Baker]

brian at pongonova.net wrote:
> 
> <offtopic>
> 
> On Thu, Mar 21, 2002 at 02:07:00PM -0600, TJ Davis wrote:
> >     I tried upgrading to the newest openssh but got failed dependencies left
> > and right.  First it needed glibc.  Then glibc needed glibc-common.  Then
> > glib-common needed something else.
> 
> Am I the only one who laments the seemingly never-changing
> interfaces in core libraries?

No - you definitely aren't alone.

I administer the 'PLIB' library and it's a real struggle to get some of
the more enthusiastic contributors to take seriously the task of maintaining
backwards compatibility come-what-may.

I can understand Linus's obsession with carefully reading every single
patch - no matter how much that slows up the process of getting important
upgrades into the system.  Once an ill-considered hack makes it's way into
a core package and programs are written to make use of it, you can end up
with a total mess as you try to maintain reverse compatibility with something
that was a bad idea in the first place.
 
----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
Mail : <sjbaker1 at airmail.net>   WorkMail: <sjbaker at link.com>
URLs : http://www.sjbaker.org
       http://plib.sf.net http://tuxaqfh.sf.net http://tuxkart.sf.net
       http://prettypoly.sf.net http://freeglut.sf.net
       http://toobular.sf.net   http://lodestone.sf.net