Asus N53 USB WiFi Driver porting

[Jeff Haran]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: kernelnewbies-bounces+jeff.haran=citrix.com at kernelnewbies.org
> [mailto:kernelnewbies-bounces+jeff.haran=citrix.com at kernelnewbies.org] On
> Behalf Of nick
> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 9:50 AM
> To: Greg KH; Abhishek Sharma
> Cc: Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu; santy30 at gmail.com; Abhishek Sharma; Kernel
> Newbies
> Subject: Re: Asus N53 USB WiFi Driver porting
> 
> 
> 
> On 2014-12-18 11:26 AM, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 08:18:24PM +0530, Abhishek Sharma wrote:
> >> Hi Valdis,
> >> Thanks for your reply.
> >> I do not want to change kernel.
> >
> > "do not want to" is very different from "applications can not be
> > ported to newer kernels".
> >
> > Please realize that the Linux kernel developers have spent the last
> > decade ensuring that you should be able to update to the latest kernel
> > version with no problems or changes needed in your applications.  Lots
> > of companies now realize this and have no problem updating to a newer
> > kernel, while running their old applications.
> >
> > So please don't spread misinformation about how applications will
> > break with new kernel versions, that is almost always not a true statement.
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > greg k-h
> >
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> >
> Abhishek,
> I am to agree with Greg KH here. The kernel community does a very good job
> of not breaking APIs for applications or regressions. Linus also has openly stated
> he will not accept any patches in the main line kernel tree if they break user
> space so you should be fine. Further more to be honest I am very impressed
> with the amount of how little APIs or regressions we get compared to the
> amount of commits. Abhishek, in addition this seems more like you don't know
> or are afraid of compiling the kernel over anything else. If you want post lsmod
> output from your system so I can help teach you how to build the kernel
> correctly.
> Nick

If it's a custom board, bringing up new kernel versions can be a quite daunting task that the management of engineering organizations is more often than not loathe to undertake. It can take a lot of education to convince them that the pain and unpredictable development schedule hit of a kernel upgrade is more than compensated for by the increases in stability and features one gets when one goes through the process.

Jeff Haran