I think Linus is way out of line here.
As an engineer he should know that a spec is as much a work in progress as the code that implements the desired behaviour for a device!
The tendency in technology is to create devices with greater and greater complexity. A way to keep a grip on this complexity is to create specs, have interoperability tests, plug fests, etc.
A released spec is just a point in time at which the spec covers desired behaviour for a device _at that time_. of course there can be mistakes in a spec, as there can be mistakes in an implementation of a device. just like there can be mistakes in the code!
stop being so childish Linus and accept the fact that in the real world specs are in fact used. specs are not bibles or fixed laws but approximations of reality (like you pointed out yourself), just as the code is an approximation of reality!!!
as a side note: maybe you should talk to a few CPU engineers, they will tell you that specs are the only way to go when implementing a CPU (or any other piece of complex hardware). re-spinning the chip in the fab is quite expensive and you will want to avoid this, hence the specs: they define the behaviour and the implementation can be tested against it....
I think Linus is way out of l
I think Linus is way out of line here.
As an engineer he should know that a spec is as much a work in progress as the code that implements the desired behaviour for a device!
The tendency in technology is to create devices with greater and greater complexity. A way to keep a grip on this complexity is to create specs, have interoperability tests, plug fests, etc.
A released spec is just a point in time at which the spec covers desired behaviour for a device _at that time_. of course there can be mistakes in a spec, as there can be mistakes in an implementation of a device. just like there can be mistakes in the code!
stop being so childish Linus and accept the fact that in the real world specs are in fact used. specs are not bibles or fixed laws but approximations of reality (like you pointed out yourself), just as the code is an approximation of reality!!!
as a side note: maybe you should talk to a few CPU engineers, they will tell you that specs are the only way to go when implementing a CPU (or any other piece of complex hardware). re-spinning the chip in the fab is quite expensive and you will want to avoid this, hence the specs: they define the behaviour and the implementation can be tested against it....