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e1000e Bug Squashed — Linux Kernel Patch Released
ruphus13 writes "As mentioned earlier, there was a kernel bug in the alpha/beta version of the Linux kernel (up to 2.6.27 rc7), which was corrupting (and rendering useless) the EEPROM/NVM of adapters. Thankfully, a patch is now out that prevents writing to the EEPROM once the driver is loaded, and this follows a patch released by Intel earlier in the week. From the article: 'The Intel team is currently working on narrowing down the details of how and why these chipsets were affected. They also plan on releasing patches shortly to restore the EEPROM on any adapters that have been affected, via saved images using ethtool -e or from identical systems.' This is good news as we move towards a production release!"
Well - let's not forget how this bug has gotten into the kernel at the first place. Was this a driver developped by the kernel team?
NO! - This was a driver given by Intel and written with Intel's own specifications. To be precise - it is not the kernel developer's or Linux developer's who are faulty, but Intel that messed things BIG up here. If you can't trust the specifications or software written by the manufacturer himself then you are in trouble.
Thinking about it.. We all know how close Intel and Microsoft are. Now - If you can hurt Linux by releasing specifications and software that bricks hardware would that no be a nice coincidence? I mean - linking Linux with hardware going defective would not hurt Microsoft hmmm?
Oh well.....