At 7/14/2003 09:43 AM (Monday), Gary Marshall wrote:

> > Mostly, I'm concerned about the upcoming Linux 2.6 release and what will
> > work with it. That is the actual release I am most likely to use long
>term.
>
>Be concerned no longer - the problem generally doesn't lie with the kernel
>version - upgrading to Linux 2.6 when it's released should have no impact on
>the functioning of the actual Firebird / Kylix applications. It will
>however have an impact on the functioning of your networking and hardware,
>which might have side effects. For instance, in the unlikely case that your
>graphics card stops working with the new drivers in 2.6, then Kylix stops
>working because you can't use X. You can test your system to see how it
>will work by installing the 2.5 kernel, because that is the development
>version that will eventually be frozen into 2.6.
>
>The system libraries (mostly glibc) and the compiler (usually gcc) are what
>can lead to incompatibilities due to changes in the way symbols are exposed
>/ API's supported, etc.

When I referred to the "upcoming Linux 2.6 release" I meant the whole ball
of wax, kernel plus libraries plus vital utilities. Are you saying that
installing a Linux distro (which is based on the 2.6 kernel) from scratch
will result in a system into which I can install Firebird 1.5 and Kylix
3.0? I don't think so, unless the Firebird and Kylix teams have done the
necessary work to create versions which are compatible with the libraries
in use for that distro.

I am not interested in participating in what is essentially a beta of
kernel 2.6 by using kernel 2.5. Perhaps I would consider it, now that Linus
has frozen 2.5 at 2.5.75. Until now I would have to track too many ongoing
changes and that is not where I want to put my attention. I would be
happiest if I saw both Firebird 1.5 and Kylix work being done with and
targetting the kernel and libraries in a 2.5.75 distro. Not likely, it
seems, unless I do it myself ;).