CLAPI....pronounced "CLAY PIE" (Re: Binary drivers)

Andre Hedrick (andre@suse.com)
Sun, 5 Dec 1999 18:58:54 -0800 (PST)


On Sun, 5 Dec 1999, Stephen Frost wrote:

> On Sun, 5 Dec 1999, Kendall Bennett wrote:
>
> > > I know which I'd prefer.
> >
> > Put it this way. I would rather have the latest wiz bang internal
> > kernel interface get developed with a compatibility layer so existing
> > drivers can actually work (with a performance hit), rather than
> > having to wait for months before I can use it at all because the
> > kernel drivers for my devices have not yet been updated to support
> > the new interfaces. Or worse that someone considering themselves to
> > be superman hacks the existing drivers so they will compile with the
> > new interfaces without actually being able to test all the drivers.
>
> Come up w/ the API. Develop the code. Modify the current
> driver set (completely) to this new API. bug-proof it, test it, and
> prove that performance doesn't decrease any for any of those drivers.

I DID IT and discussed it for about 15 minute with Linus at LinuxWorld.
The context of that discussion is closed, but the concerns addressed to me
by Linus have be nailed down.

OH, did I mention that I can do it kernel independent API, and UP/SMP is
not an issue either.....No it is not a new social problem.

I call it CLAPI....pronounced "CLAY PIE", Commerial Linux API

(Was that a serious no brainer for a concept that I started 2+ years ago.)

CLA(Y) == Easily moldable to need of the vender.
PI == The endless remainder of vendors, afraid of GPL.

This is all clean and does not break any of the Kernel GPL issues.
This uses all known forms of the GPL/LGPL to create this model.
The final stages were to be tested by the end of 1stQ 2000, but I may lost
the vender.

I will disclose more after I have a chance to float near final design by
Linus and the Gang.

Andre Hedrick
The Linux IDE guy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SuSE Inc. - Makers of SuSE Linux
Andre Hedrick, 580 2nd Street, Ste 210, Oakland, CA 94607 USA
PH: 510-628-3380 FAX: 510-628-3381 www.suse.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/