[dtrace-discuss] [networking-discuss] Re: DTrace Network Providers, take 2

[James Carlson]

Peter Memishian writes:
> 
>  > While we may well hide behind the veil of "sdt probes are private",
>  > in the great big world of open source, this is just silly.
> 
> Please, not this again.  Just because it's open-source doesn't mean that
> everyone is allowed to go mucking around with everyone else's private parts.

Indeed.  The core confusion seems to be over the word "private."  It
doesn't mean "secret."  It doesn't even mean that we'll somehow chase
down those wayward users and somehow stop them from using what they
ought not.

Instead, it means that the original author is not *expecting* anyone
to use the interface.  As he doesn't *expect* this to happen, he's not
going to try very hard (if at all) to make sure that any future
changes are compatible with what anyone else is doing.

In other words, if you use something that's private, you can get hurt
by changes down the line.  If you don't care whether your application
falls apart in the future, then go ahead and use whatever you want.

It's not "secrecy," but rather rate-of-change, and having open source
doesn't change the situation for private interfaces in the slightest.

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive         71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.496N   Fax +1 781 442 1677