binary compatibility [was: Re: latest current + latest ports +nvidia == no GL (pthread problem?)]

[Peter Schultz]

Here is how I would paint this bike shed, I hope it doesn't cause 
raucous thread.

Doug Barton wrote:
> Choosing to break compatibility
> with third party software (what little of it there is) simply drives
> more nails in the coffin of FreeBSD as anything other than a niche
> platform.
> 

I would prefer to see broken binary compatibility.  It is one of the 
things I enjoy most about FreeBSD-CURRENT.  "Sorry guys, we were wrong, 
but here's a better implementation."  :-)

My opinion is that Doug's "nails in the coffin" statement is pure 
speculation and conjecture.  Would I like to see FreeBSD on more and 
more desktops?  Yes.  Do I think it helps when binary compatibility is 
broken?  No.  Someday FreeBSD may become so simple to use that it will 
take the desktop world by storm, but who here is thinking that will 
happen today?

FreeBSD is just another tool for us humans to use.  It's very special 
though, as it can turn a commodity PC into a powerful server.  I 
happened to see it as an extraordinarily precise, yet highly flexible 
tool, which I have come to expect to be under the most strenuous 
development.  This may always cause it to be a niche platform, and if 
that's the case.  So be it.  At least the craftsmen and artists of the 
world will have somewhere to commit code and show off.

Pete...