AW: [Desktop_printing] Role of CUPS and error handling
Robert L Krawitz
rlk at alum.mit.edu
Sat Apr 1 06:35:46 PST 2006
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 22:05:53 -0800
From: "Bastian, Waldo" <waldo.bastian at intel.com>
OSDL DTL is interested in growing Linux Desktop adoption, and that
growth is going to come primarily from Linux/x86 compatible systems
in the foreseeable future. Currently that growth is hampered by
people having to go through hoops like ./configure;make;make
install (typically combined with a lot google usage) in order to
get hardware working that they have paid money for. Yes, open
source drivers are preferable for a large number of reasons, but
the first concern is making end-users happy with a working
setup. If that takes a binary-only driver for the time being, then
so be it.
End users don't have to compile it themselves. An install script, for
example, could take care of that.
The issue about having compilers/dev packages installed is relevant,
though.
I do think that in the long term (not so long term, actually) closed
source drivers will cause more problems than they'll solve. It won't
be as bad as it is in the kernel (where wayward drivers can cause
instability for the entire system), but there will be inevitable
conflicts -- things such as compiler/library versions (particularly if
drivers are written in C++), hidden assumptions about other things
installed on the system, and so forth. If the distribution vendor (or
end user, for the more sophisticated users) has the opportunity to
compile the packages itself, a lot of these problems go away.
I do think the issue of platform neutrality is important and shouldn't
be swept aside that easily.
--
Robert Krawitz <rlk at alum.mit.edu>
Tall Clubs International -- http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2
Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf at uunet.uu.net
Project lead for Gutenprint -- http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net
"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton
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