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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Are there any things in Linux that need to be started over from scratch? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm curious how software can be created and evolve over time. I'm afraid that at some point, we'll realize there are issues with the software we're using that can only be remedied by massive changes or a complete rewrite.

Are there any instances of this happening? Where something is designed with a flaw that doesn't get realized until much later, necessitating scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch?

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[–] [email protected] 109 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Happens all the time on Linux. The current instance would be the shift from X11 to Wayland.

The first thing I noticed was when the audio system switched from OSS to ALSA.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And then ALSA to all those barely functional audio daemons to PulseAudio, and then again to PipeWire. That sure one took a few tries to figure out right.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And the strangest thing about that is that neither PulseAudio nor Pipewire are replacing anything. ALSA and PulseAudio are still there while I handle my audio through Pipewire.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

How is PulseAudio still there? I mean, sure the protocol is still there, but it’s handled by pipewire-pulse on most systems nowadays ~~(KDE specifically requires PipeWire)~~.

Also, PulseAudio was never designed to replace ALSA, it’s sitting on top of ALSA to abstract some complexity from the programs, that would arise if they were to use ALSA directly.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Pulse itself is not there but its functionality is (and they even preserved its interface and pactl). PipeWire is a superset of audio features from Pulse and Jack combined with video.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

For anyone wondering: Alsa does sound card detection and basic IO at the kernel level, Pulse takes ALSA devices and does audio mixing at the user/system level. Pipe does what Pulse does but more and even includes video devices

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And then from ALSA to PulseAudio haha

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

They're at different layers of the audio stack though so not really replacing.