[openib-general] 2.6.18 kernel support in the main trunk.

[Roland Dreier]

    Matt>   RedHat and SuSE have stated several times that they want
    Matt> an OFED like process that takes the OF code and runs it
    Matt> through a rigorous suite of regression and performance
    Matt> tests.  The purpose of OFED is to get into the commercially
    Matt> supported distros (e.g RHEL and SLES).  That is what the
    Matt> majority of end customers want/need.  That said spinning out
    Matt> "pre-OFED" releases of each component would help to get the
    Matt> code into the other distros (FC, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo,
    Matt> etc.) which, of course, is a very good thing to do.

I think we've gotten mixed up about "release" vs. "distribution"
again.  I would say that all the packaging crap, which OFED does as a
short-term thing to make it possible for naive users to install, is
actually a big negative for RH and Novell -- they would rather package
and build software themselves.

What is missing is the tested, coordinated tarball release of OF
userspace stuff -- http://www.gnome.org/start/2.16/ might be a useful
model, particularly the "Getting GNOME 2.16" section.

Then if the OFED group wants to build a distribution, that's fine and
healthy.

 - R.