[Gllug] Linux on Desktop

[Nix]

On 5 Feb 2007, David Damerell uttered the following:
> It doesn't have to be that bad; IBM's mainframe OS, which I think is
> called z/OS this week, retains compatibility for S/360 applications
> from decades ago. They do this because they _don't_ change the API
> between versions of the OS and pretend it's the same one, breaking
> applications that use the old version; they have a new API (which
> might be very similar) and keep the old API around doing what it
> always did.

This is very close to what symbol versioning provides for e.g. glibc. I
just wish more library authors other than glibc used it.

(Of course, IBM take it to a whole new level... the compatibility code
in z/OS/390/or-whatever must be something to see...)

-- 
`In the future, company names will be a 32-character hex string.'
  --- Bruce Schneier on the shortage of company names
-------------- next part --------------
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug