> On Mon, 8 Jul 1996, Andrew E. Mileski wrote:
>
> > Dejan Ilic (aka "a bug's worst nightmare") whipped me into shape - I now
> > always make sure every file can be compiled correctly using every
> > available option. Others should take up this philosophy too. It doesn't
> > prevent run-time errors, but it does prevent silly typos.
>
> Hey, Linux has about 90 boolean config options (guessed, not counted).
>
> If poor Linus has to combine all 2^90 config options (my calculator
> can't display that number) and test them, don't you think we would
> still be waiting for 0.99.10?
>
Although what you say is true, it is not relevant to the current
discussion. The best way to catch syntax errors is to make sure you feed
all source code to a compiler with no fatal errors resulting. I believe
this can be done for the kernel in one pass. Choose to build all modules
and enable all, non-conflicting, features. Whenever I have done this in
the past (yes, it is time consuming) the reported errors have coincided
with the problem reports on this list.
Errors are, by definition, accidents. They are never intentional. There
are, however, methods of discovering errors of the semi-colon type without
inflicting them on others.
Luck,
Dwarf
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Black Creek Critters e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net
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