26 ms·
Linux doesn't rewrite? Is writing a completely new I/O scheduler from scratch and replacing the old one not a rewrite? How much does a 5.14 kernel have in commo
by mike_hock 4y ago
Linux doesn't rewrite? Is writing a completely new I/O scheduler from scratch and replacing the old one not a rewrite? How much does a 5.14 kernel have in common with a 2.6.8 one?
If anything, Linux isn't afraid to rewrite the parts that need to be rewritten, and that's one of its strengths.
Apache, Vim, and Postgres have been "rewritten." Nginx is an httpd written from scratch that sort of has the same features as Apache. Neovim exists. And newer database technologies that care about performance have been written.
- jacobsenscott 4y agoWith well designed software parts are re-written all the time. When people say rewrite they mean literally rewriting everything from scratch. Stating over. So if you diff 2.6.8..5.14 course you'll get a massive diff. But they got there by a long series of relatively small changes, with regular releases in between.
- mike_hock 4y agoNginx, Neovim and Linux 2.6 were written from scratch to start over from Apache, Vim and Linux 2.4. The rewrite isn't the issue. The tech debt amassed between the rewrites and then rewriting not to learn from past mistakes but to repeat them, is the issue.