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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!usenet.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@cs.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Subject: Re: So you say you want an interim release of 386bsd? (What to do?) Message-ID: <1993Apr20.191241.16618@coe.montana.edu> Sender: usenet@coe.montana.edu (USENET News System) Organization: CS References: <1r067g$915@lobster.sid.mcet.edu> <C5sCvr.3G1@unx.sas.com> <1r146qINNmbn@hrd769.brooks.af.mil> <1993Apr20.160109.17689@gmd.de> Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 19:12:41 GMT Lines: 77 In article <1993Apr20.160109.17689@gmd.de> veit@mururoa.gmd.de (Holger Veit) writes: >|> Another question is what do I do now? > > >I also asked the same question when I read the NetBSD announcement. Apparently >many people will grab the "new release of 386bsd" just because it is new. >What is missing is a procedure to upgrade from a src01dist+patchkit-0.2.2 >to the new release for all persons who do not want to start from scratch. >Besides some reorgs of trees and splitting into separate packages the real >difference to src01+pk022 cannot be so extreme that an upgrade kit is impossible >(it just has to be done). One, the amount of changes from 386BSD + patchkit -> NetBSD are extremely large, especially in the area of configuration. The goals for the NetBSD group and the continuing 386BSD group are different. There is currently work in progress (Yeah, right, we've heard that a million times now) to produce an interim release of 386BSD, with Bill's blessing. The purpose of this release is to make the 0.1 -> 0.2 transition easier, and to introduce some new code into the tree (updated software, shared libraries :-), better installation tools, etc..) >The situation becomes more interesting with the release of 386bsd-0.2 >(even if it looks as if everyone will get a grey beard until it arrives;-)). If I am not mistaken, (Chris, contradict me if I'm wrong), the NetBSD crew have no intention on running 0.2. However, this doesn't mean they will ignore 0.2, but instead take what they consider to be useful features from it (if possible), and place them into NetBSD. >In this case we have three releases people can offer patches for: >The 386bsd-0.1+pk0.2.*, NetBSD with its own patchkit possibly, and 386bsd-0.2. >In the latter case we again have the difficulty whether to drop NetBSD and >take the latest and best (?). Probably there will be a set of diffs to upgrade >NetBSD to the 0.2 level, or vice versa (?). Doubtful, if my statement on NetBSD is correct. >BTW: I just saw the announcement of pk-0.2.3, and wonder if this brings my system >to NetBSD. No, NetBSD and 386BSD are still different. Chris and his support crew have done a lot of VERY GOOD THINGS in NetBSD (and some things on which I disagree with, but that's to be expected. :-) Hopefully alot of these changes will be integrated into the interim release, but due to lack of hardware, and some miscommunication with the site hosting the interim release, things have not progressed as quickly as we would like. >Maybe the patchkit people and the NetBSD people (who are mainly the same group) >comment some more about the expected future. I can't speak for Rod, but as a former patchkit maintainer, if we can get these technical problems ironed out, we are planning on still doing an interim release. Now, right now today, Chris's release is the best thing on the market, and if you are a new users, I suggest using it. But, if you're happy with 386BSD today, Rod is going to continue to work his tail off and produce patchkits against 386BSD. (And there is some very nice stuff coming up in the next patchkit, but Rod needs to take about 2 years off after cranking this one out :-) Anyway, that's the status from my end, Nate -- osynw@terra.oscs.montana.edu | Still trying to find a good reason for nate@cs.montana.edu | these 'computer' things. Personally, work #: (406) 994-4836 | I don't think they'll catch on - home #: (406) 586-0579 | Don Hammerstrom