4 ms·

The introduction to the patch is unnecessarily demeaning.

by 762236 11y ago

aaronem 11y ago
If I had to patch an OS kernel to account for an erroneous hardware RTC, I'd probably be inclined to be a little "demeaning" too.
TD-Linux 11y ago
To be fair, with any amount of actual testing of the hardware IP before production, this would have been caught, it's a pretty bad bug. Or Rockchip could have simply implemented a linear seconds counter, which would have worked fine and not required crazy workarounds.
- pkaye 11y ago
  I wonder how they missed it. If someone was asked to write verification tests for a RTC chip, this would one of the first few things obvious things to be checked.
  - fredkbloggs 11y ago
    Really, or are you just saying that? They "missed it" because either (a) they didn't bother to test at all, or (b) they actually thought November has 31 days and didn't bother to do the 4 seconds of research required to get both the implementation and the test correct (since, of course, the people writing this are almost certainly Chinese and know as much about the Gregorian calendar as they know about McDonald's hamburgers, Norman Rockwell's art, or the present value of the euro). Welcome to firmware, folks!
    - asolove 11y ago
      They use the Gregorian calendar in China for everything except traditional holidays.
    - gregshap 11y ago
      In addition to using the Gregorian calendar, China has a couple thousand McDonalds and people there are well aware of major world currencies.
  - userbinator 11y ago
    I have a feeling they just "bought" the IP from a third-party and never actually tested it.
urda 11y ago
That's hardly demeaning. I would be more devastated if I produced a product that had this type of a bug, versus what some random stranger might write in patch notes about it.
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  The person responsible doesn't care in the slightest. They got paid, their product not only got sold but is still being sold, and so there's nothing to be bothered with. That's what firmware's about: toss it out the door and move on. Trust me, if the person who did this even knows about it, he surely does not care at all.
  - TD-Linux 11y ago
    The good news is that presumably the introduction of this bug means that they needlessly rewrote the RTC for this generation of chips, which means they might meaninglessly rewrite it again and the bug will be fixed!
    - fredkbloggs 11y ago
      Oh, you're such an optimist! Everyone knows firmware developers will only rewrite something needlessly if it's correct.
762236 11y ago
Wow, this comment is currently downvoted to 0, and the replies to it are justifying the belittling response. You become more worthy through action --- not by belittling someone else.
- smcl 11y ago
  I think the downvotes are a little harsh, but I disagree with you. The patch notes are not belittling and don't represent any of the other problems I've seen complaints about re Linux contributions (swearing, bullying, sexism). They're just a bit of light-hearted fun - and they're not contained in the code itself.
- slavik81 11y ago
  > You become more worthy through action --- not by belittling someone else. Hence why the patch submitter was upvoted and the commenter was downvoted.
jamesbowman 11y ago
I make chips for a living, and if I had screwed up this badly I would fully expect to be fired. Being fired for incompetence is much more demeaning than gentle mockery by people writing a workaround.
fredkbloggs 11y ago
On the contrary, the comments are far too kind. This sort of error is simply unconscionable and the person responsible for it deserves far worse. It's unfortunate that the poor sod responsible for working around it can't do any more than write a scathing comment, because at an absolute minimum the responsible party should never work again (in any industry or role).
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  Really, downvoter asshole, really?! Let's walk through it, shall we? I'm not sure how many days are in November. Or any month, for that matter. Ok, no problem, no one knows everything. Let's go look this up. This takes a few seconds. We look it up. Oh hey, November has 30 days. Cool. I'll go write the correct code. It won't take any longer than writing the wrong code, nor will it cost me or my company any more. Tell me why this is too hard, or too much work, or too expensive, or WHATEVER. Tell me. Really. Go ahead, I'm waiting.
  - dang 11y ago
    Personal attacks and name-calling are not allowed on HN. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all.
mikeash 11y ago
I find it to be a remarkably gentle response to an act of such gross incompetence.

The introduction to the patch is unnecessarily demeaning.

by 762236 11y ago

The introduction to the patch is unnecessarily demeaning.

If I had to patch an OS kernel to account for an erroneous hardware RTC, I'd probably be inclined to be a little "demeaning" too.

TD-Linux 11y ago

To be fair, with any amount of actual testing of the hardware IP before production, this would have been caught, it's a pretty bad bug. Or Rockchip could have simply implemented a linear seconds counter, which would have worked fine and not required crazy workarounds.

pkaye 11y ago
I wonder how they missed it. If someone was asked to write verification tests for a RTC chip, this would one of the first few things obvious things to be checked.
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  Really, or are you just saying that? They "missed it" because either (a) they didn't bother to test at all, or (b) they actually thought November has 31 days and didn't bother to do the 4 seconds of research required to get both the implementation and the test correct (since, of course, the people writing this are almost certainly Chinese and know as much about the Gregorian calendar as they know about McDonald's hamburgers, Norman Rockwell's art, or the present value of the euro). Welcome to firmware, folks!
  - asolove 11y ago
    They use the Gregorian calendar in China for everything except traditional holidays.
  - gregshap 11y ago
    In addition to using the Gregorian calendar, China has a couple thousand McDonalds and people there are well aware of major world currencies.
- userbinator 11y ago
  I have a feeling they just "bought" the IP from a third-party and never actually tested it.

urda 11y ago

That's hardly demeaning. I would be more devastated if I produced a product that had this type of a bug, versus what some random stranger might write in patch notes about it.

fredkbloggs 11y ago
The person responsible doesn't care in the slightest. They got paid, their product not only got sold but is still being sold, and so there's nothing to be bothered with. That's what firmware's about: toss it out the door and move on. Trust me, if the person who did this even knows about it, he surely does not care at all.
- TD-Linux 11y ago
  The good news is that presumably the introduction of this bug means that they needlessly rewrote the RTC for this generation of chips, which means they might meaninglessly rewrite it again and the bug will be fixed!
  - fredkbloggs 11y ago
    Oh, you're such an optimist! Everyone knows firmware developers will only rewrite something needlessly if it's correct.

762236 11y ago

Wow, this comment is currently downvoted to 0, and the replies to it are justifying the belittling response. You become more worthy through action --- not by belittling someone else.

smcl 11y ago
I think the downvotes are a little harsh, but I disagree with you. The patch notes are not belittling and don't represent any of the other problems I've seen complaints about re Linux contributions (swearing, bullying, sexism). They're just a bit of light-hearted fun - and they're not contained in the code itself.
slavik81 11y ago
> You become more worthy through action --- not by belittling someone else. Hence why the patch submitter was upvoted and the commenter was downvoted.

jamesbowman 11y ago

I make chips for a living, and if I had screwed up this badly I would fully expect to be fired. Being fired for incompetence is much more demeaning than gentle mockery by people writing a workaround.

fredkbloggs 11y ago

On the contrary, the comments are far too kind. This sort of error is simply unconscionable and the person responsible for it deserves far worse. It's unfortunate that the poor sod responsible for working around it can't do any more than write a scathing comment, because at an absolute minimum the responsible party should never work again (in any industry or role).

fredkbloggs 11y ago
Really, downvoter asshole, really?! Let's walk through it, shall we? I'm not sure how many days are in November. Or any month, for that matter. Ok, no problem, no one knows everything. Let's go look this up. This takes a few seconds. We look it up. Oh hey, November has 30 days. Cool. I'll go write the correct code. It won't take any longer than writing the wrong code, nor will it cost me or my company any more. Tell me why this is too hard, or too much work, or too expensive, or WHATEVER. Tell me. Really. Go ahead, I'm waiting.
- dang 11y ago
  Personal attacks and name-calling are not allowed on HN. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

mikeash 11y ago

I find it to be a remarkably gentle response to an act of such gross incompetence.