"Dr. David Kirkby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > If the developers insist on dropping backward compatibility, would it > not be better to at least do a test for old hardware/software
I wouldn't bother myself, because such a test would be a maintenance hassle. We don't have the resources to keep track of all the quirks of ancient hardware. We have enough trouble keeping track of the oddities of live systems. At some point, when a system is no longer active, it is better for all concerned if we simply drop support for it. The reality is that GNU developers have limited resources, and efforts expended on inactive systems draw needed resources away from more important areas. > Should well written software not respond with informative messages, no > matter how invalid the user input? This is not a question of invalid user input. This is a question of bugs in the operating system. Autoconf-generated scripts, no matter how well-written, cannot survive arbitrary OS bugs.
