[Techtalk] One Standardized Version of Linux

[Terri Oda]

At 12:48 AM 11/05/02 -0400, kansas_kennedy at phreaker.net wrote:
>Well....it's true that under Linux we can change the source code and make it
>fit to our use. But truly how many of us are really capable of doing this?
>
>It takes a hell load to hack the source code. You have to be a genius in C.

That's not really true!  It helps, but if you've got a specific 
modification you want in a program you don't always need to understand 
everything around it.

It's like saying you need to be a rally car driver to handle an 
automobile.  It takes a lot of knowledge to drive an obstacle 
course.  Maybe a little less to drive through suburbia in the middle of an 
empty afternoon.  And practically nothing to drive an automatic car down an 
empty laneway on a farm.  Even an unlicensed 12 year old can do the last if 
s/he can reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel. :)

Similarly, if you want to modify the kernel to support a new filesystem, 
then yes, you'd need a fair bit of understanding.  But if what you want to 
do is change some error messages, all you need to know is how to find the 
old message and how to type your new one.  Even that last is hacking the 
source code (and would doubtlessly be disallowed in many user agreements), 
but it doesn't even really require you to *know* C, let alone be an expert.

All you *really* need to hack source code is to lose the idea that you 
can't do it.  :)

  Terri