Re: [libvirt] Redefinition of struct in6_addr in <netinet/in.h> and <linux/in6.h>
From: Mike Frysinger <vapier(a)gentoo.org>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:14:31 -0500
the kernel already exports many types with a __kernel_ prefix. i
changed the
kernel headers in Gentoo for a few releases (2.6.28 - 2.6.34) to do the same
thing to pretty much all the networking headers. a few packages broke, but
the number was low, and trivial to fix (a sed would do it most of the time).
it's also trivial for userland packages to detect that they need to do this
sort of thing in a local header by using linux/version.h and a set of defines
to redirect the new structure name back to the old one.
would be a lot cleaner to just break it and be done.
We are not at liberty to break something that has legitimately
compiled successfully for two decades.
Your __kernel_ prefix idea breaks compilation just as equally.
One thing you certainly don't have to be is happy about this header
file situation, but you cannot use that dissatisfaction as
justification to make the situation worse by breaking the build for
people outside of the world you directly control.