Re: [MiNT] version number

[joska@nuts.edu (Jo Even Skarstein)]

On Thu, 13 May 1999 13:28:56 +0300 (EEST), Martin-Eric Racine wrote:

> IMHO, the current kernel should be called 1.16, because it introduces
> new functions that are _required_ for some newer apps, like Ext2.xfs;

I agree with you here.

> calling Ssystem() for everything is a bad idea; people should be able
> to rely upon the existing cookie jar.

...but not here. Depending on the cookie-jar is not a good idea, because
then we get the same situation as we had with MiNTlib not long ago:
Functions that is available in e.g. MagiC (or any other TOS-compatible
os not called MiNT) aren't used simply because MiNTlib checked the
MiNT-cookie. And what if another OS (e.g. Fenix) shows up? You would
have to modify and recompile everything to support it.

Imagine that you had to check the AES-version number and the name of the
AES just to find out if sub-menus are supported. You'd have to find out which
versions of which AES'es that supports these, instead you can simply call
appl_getinfo(). Ssystem() simplifies things the same way.


/*
** Jo Even Skarstein    http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~josk/
**
**    beer - maria mckee - atari falcon - babylon 5
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