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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:2807 comp.os.linux.misc:20233 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!hookup!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!newshost.uwo.ca!mo From: mo@pineapple.apmaths.uwo.ca (Matthew Osborne) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: I hope this won't ignite a major flame war, but I've got to know! Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc Date: 21 Jul 1994 15:44:16 GMT Organization: The University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. Canada Lines: 70 Message-ID: <30m54g$et7@falcon.ccs.uwo.ca> References: <30drlt$7tc@news.u.washington.edu> <1994Jul18.093302.19670@wmichgw> <30g0af$bfv@u.cc.utah.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: pineapple.apmaths.uwo.ca X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Terry Lambert (terry@cs.weber.edu) wrote: : In article <1994Jul18.093302.19670@wmichgw> 31khoo@wmich.edu (Patrick Khoo) writes: : ] Very simple Tim, Anyone and i mean Anyone can work on Linux development. The : ] development is open and releases are fast (blazingly fast kernel releases!) As : ] opposed to Free/NetBSD. As such, a hacker would prefer Linux, where he/she can : ] hack and get updates fast. : As an anti-spokesperson (meaning I speak for no one), here is my opinion: : Actually, I think the initial impetus toward Linux and away from BSD was : based on BSD's shaky legal status relative to the USL suit against BSDI : and UCB. : I have to say that NetBSD developement doesn't appear to be very open : from the point of view of a netnews reader, anyway. They rely heavily : on mailing lists. FreeBSD also relies on mailing lists, yet it seems : to be more visible on netnews. : I've noticed a "closing down" of the FreeBSD developement; I think I : can count say 5 people working on the 4.4-Lite migration. This is : explainable in the time frame they have to work before the code must : no longer be distributed. : Hopefully the closed developement you cite is a temporary phenomenon : based on the agreements with USL to cease use of the Net/2 code within : a (getting shorter fast) time frame. Both systems have releases based : on 4.4 scheduled out at the end of July/start of August. : I don't know what legal agreements or entities exist regarding deals : with USL for the NetBSD distribution, but for the FreeBSD distribution, : there is a commercial site sponsor, Walnut Creek CDROM, which has agreed : with USL, even if the FreeBSD "team", which has no legal status as an : entity which could enter into such an agreement. : The upshot of all this is that the FreeBSD team has been extremely : conservative in its mode to 4.4-Lite; specifically, they have taken : a 4.4-Lite source tree and basically duplicated William Jolitz's : initial effort in 386BSD 0.1 to provide newly coded replacements for : any file which USL has deemed questionable. The NetBSD effort has : been a bit more avantgarde, porting the 4.4 code into their tree, : with the confidence that they have rewritten sufficient code to : render their tree legally safe anyway. : The result in the FreeBSD camp is that FreeBSD has inherited the : platform independant code of 4.4-Lite. The result in the NetBSD : camp is that they have incorparted 4.4 features into an already : highly portable environment, alreading including new code for a lot : of the suspect portions of Net/2 long before there was a problem : in the legal sense (a cease-and-desist letter to at least 10 Net/2 : and Net/2 derived code sites I can think of off the top of my head). : In any case, funneling changes you want incorporated into the main : code branch of NetBSD or FreeBSD to people with commit authority on : those branches is similar to what is required of Linux developers : who want there code to be something other than a local phenomenon : (I ought to know -- I am nearing 200M of "local phenomenon" on my own : BSD work). The difference is whether that authority rests in the I would like to try FreeBSD out. But, people.. When I FTPed to ftp.cdrom.com and looked in /pub/FreeBSD .. I had NO way to really know what to look for. COuld SOMEONE tell me what to FTP and where?? I run linux right now.. It is easy to understand the FTP sites and I like the Yggdrasil CDROM version. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Matthew C Osborne |"I would if I could, but I can't so I won't" + Co-SysOp Biffs BBS | -Unkown 1994 + Node 1 (519)659-7470 | "Common sence is very uncommon." + mo@pineapple.apmaths.uwo.ca | -Horace Greeley +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+