[950] in Release_7.7_team
Re: Solaris 2.4 and 2.5 patches for new Sun Compilers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John Hawkinson)
Tue May 6 01:31:36 1997
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 01:31:32 -0400
To: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
Cc: release-team@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: "[945] in Release_7.7_team"
From: John Hawkinson <jhawk@MIT.EDU>
| These patches are not on the recommended patch list, and it's not very
| acceptable for Sunpro to ship compilers that require patches that
| Sunsoft doesn't recommend.
Do you really think so?
The usually scheme of things is that Sun finds some bug and then
releases a patch. Typically the patch fixes the problem, potentially
after some number of iterations.
If the problem is speculated as being one that most customers will see,
or if the problem is security-related, then the patch becomes a recommended
patch.
If the problem is considered rare or only necessary for customers in special
situations, such as those installing special products, then the patches
are not designated "recommended".
One might think that recommended patches are more reliable and more likely
to be stable. I'm sure this is true, but it is also due to more people
testing them and using them *because* they are believed to be stable,
or at least necessary. This is a catch-22.
| I am opposed to applying these patches without knowing what problems
| they solve
Hopefully you're opposed to applying "recommended" patches without
knowing what problems they solve as well! Presumably this information
is trivially available from SunSolve.
| and I think someone needs to talk to Sun about this issue.
I guess I'm missing something.
--jhawk
