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Linus Fixes Kernel Regression Breaking Witcher 2
jones_supa writes There has been quite a debate around the Linux version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and the fact that it wasn't really a port. A special kind of wrapper was used to make the Windows version of the game run on Linux systems, similar to Wine. The performance on Linux systems took a hit and users felt betrayed because they thought that they would get a native port. However, after the game stopped launching properly at some point, the reason was actually found to be a Linux regression. Linus quickly took care of the issue on an unofficial Witcher 2 issue tracker on GitHub: "It looks like LDT_empty is buggy on 64-bit kernels. I suspect that the behavior was inconsistent before the tightening change and that it's now broken as a result. I'll write a patch. Serves me right for not digging all the way down the mess of macros." This one goes to the bin "don't break userspace". Linus also reminds of QA: "And maybe this is an excuse for somebody in the x86 maintainer team to try a few games on steam. They *are* likely good tests of odd behavior.."
Real gamers use Windows (tm)
A developer fixes a bug, and writes a comment on github.
Somebody caused that regression! Lay the blame, git is all about the blame.
... and fuck beta !
Man in charge of kernel fixes kernel when it breaks.
This isn't news. This is what happens.
And if only MS had a similar "never break userspace" rule that applied to even the most unbelievably "casual" of software too.
Hell, I broke four apps just going to 64-bit Windows 8 from... 32-bit Windows 8.
And, I agree. Steam has 1/3rd of my 800 games working on Linux already. If we're not using those as a test-case, then why not? Sure, some will just be multi-platform ports from the same source but likely a lot of code will literally be new ports added just for Linux.
Sad to say, there are probably more games in my Steam library that work natively on Linux now, then there are Windows games on there that'll work under Wine/Crossover/etc.
On any version of windows.... but Linux always needs some voodoo and shit?
This, a thousand times this.
The one reason that people like Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, et al made such lasting impacts on not only their companies but the world as well was not because of some great business acumen but because they fixed the problems directly. Sure, they were assholes but ultimately they cared about their products and how customers reacted to them.
Degree milled MBA's don't understand this and would not have given this fix a second thought because a> they couldn't do it and b> the economics didn't make sense because some team would've had to be picked to go out, ascertain the problem, determine the solution which might be a larger fix than a one line change and now you're looking at potentially tens of thousands of dollars expense to fix a bug in a product that isn't even YOURS! It just don't make no economic sense and you'd get dinged and the next stockholders meeting.
You see this in all the industries. Apple after Steve Jobs. Car manufacturers who were eventually run by "businessmen who understood the auto markets" instead of "a car geek who understood business" the entire industry turned into regurgitated pablum with a few occasional bursts of brilliance by a car geek that broke through the red tape. I worked in the consumer electronics industry and have seen first hand how once highly held and coveted products have been turned into cheap commodities by a "fresh executive team" because it's easier to sell to the masses who don't understand the finer details of a product than it is to actually push the envelope and innovate your product into the next generation. Then, when that market dies out completely because the enthusiasts don't want your product because it sucks so the masses don't want it anymore because "it's not cool", the CEOs blame the market for being fickle.
...Just not FUCKING mine! There should have been an IDIOT game players on the kernel teIm who digs FUCKING SHIT Steam.
I recently had an issue where Arcanum will run in wine on my 32bit laptop, but not on my 64bit desktop in wine's 32bit mode. Same OS/version, same version of wine.
"And if only MS had a similar "never break userspace" rule that applied to even the most unbelievably "casual" of software too."
I'm not a Windows guy but this statement is bogus. Microsoft's pain is that they care so much about userspace that they'll make design fundamental decisions around keeping userspace ABIs/APIs. This means that I can often (not always, but often) run an older version of a program fine on a newer version of Windows. On the Linux, we can often rebuild the app from source and many do.
Without ye there d nevar evar bee an Unixy kernel for free.
On one hand, you hear about him flaming out people who break shit in stupid ways.
On the other, you also hear him accepting blame for not checking things properly himself: "Serves me right for not digging all the way down the mess of macros"
Whatever his eccentricities, he sounds quite fair to me.
Wouldn't it be easier to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine like VM Ware on a Linux computer? Why go through WINE and possible incompatibility issues? Or buy a gaming laptop for gaming on windows? I'm sure you geeks make $30 an hour and can afford two computers.
Systemd folks take note.
Don't break my user space with your selfish ideals of progress.
I've used Debian for years now, but its quality is getting really bad these days. Things have gotten particularly bad since the switch to systemd.
Some of the bugs that Debian suffers from now are unbelievable. There was one bug that broke the WINE launch script, for example. It made it impossible to use WINE to run Windows programs.
When I first heard about that bug, I couldn't believe it. How could a bug like that even get through? It was blatantly obvious. Trying to run a Windows program using WINE would have shown it was broken! Didn't the package maintainer try that most basic of tests while preparing the new version?
I don't expect perfection from Debian, but I do expect a minimal level of quality, and that particular bug is just plain inexcusable.
The saddest part of all of this is that Debian is actually one of the better distros out there! The others are often more seriously broken in many other ways.
I applaud Linus for caring so highly about quality, but it does not do much good to have a robust kernel if the distros are broken in idiotic ways.
The fix and half the quotes attributed to Linus were from me. Apparently people can't figure out who posted which GitHub comment.