Re: I vote for updated RAID and KNFSD

Fred Reimer (fwr@ga.prestige.net)
Sat, 11 Sep 1999 15:56:36 -0400

On Thu, 09 Sep 1999, Rogier Wolff wrote:
> Stefan Monnier wrote:
>
> > The RAID code is considered stable (and even more stable than the
> > old version), so there's no reason from a stability point of view
> > not to include it. You seem to be confusing staticness and
> > stbility. 2.2 is meant to be "stable" but not static.
>
> Talking about confusing: Some people (rightly, I think) feel that
> within a stable release, you shouldn't be required to upgrade userland
> tools. A system installed with 2.2.0 should be seamlessly upgradeable
> to 2.2.12. Everyone knows that when you go from 2.0.x to 2.2.x, you
> might (and as it happens, WILL) have to upgrade a few userland
> packages, but within a stable kernel release, an upgrade shouldn't
> lead to an avalange of user-space-program upgrades.
>
> As I understand things, the RAID code works for some who hate to have
> to upgrade their tools "for nothing", but not for others, who hate to
> have to keep on patching their kernel.
>
> R

The existing RAID code does not support hot swapping, IIRC. This means
that, if you had a hardware problem which RAID is supposed to correct,
you have to take the machine down in order to replace the failed disk.
It is a valid argument, IMHO, that the existing RAID code should not
even be considered "production." So, upgrading the code "for
nothing" is a misnomer. Since no sane administrator would use RAID in a
production environment without upgrading it I don't see the logic in
holding back the patches.

I >THOUGH< that was one of the so-called benefits of Linux -- that you
don't have to wait a long time for some monolithic company or
organization to make new features and bug fixes available to you.
Failure to upgrade a more-heavily-tested and "stable" RAID base in the
2.2 kernel directly contradicts this belief.

Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper. I guess I won't be until
almost a year past when 2.2 came out when the new RAID code is
integrated into the kernel (my prediction, hopefully too pessimistic).
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot about it that I can do as it
seems Alan, Linus, and Ingo all agree that it's not going into 2.2...

fwr

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