*BSD News Article 38628


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From: jkh@whisker.hubbard.ie (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.bugs,comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: FreeBSD2.0R install glitches -- patched floppies coming shortly!!
Date: 29 Nov 1994 14:53:00 GMT
Organization: Jordan Hubbard
Lines: 88
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <JKH.94Nov29145300@whisker.hubbard.ie>
References: <3bea13$881@shore.shore.net>
Reply-To: poster
NNTP-Posting-Host: whisker.hubbard.ie
In-reply-to: witr@rwwa.com's message of 29 Nov 1994 04:17:39 GMT


Ok, Robert Withrow finally bullied me into it (:-).  I *have* been
taking diligent note of all the bugs reported so far, and I have taken
steps to (I hope) fix all problems reported so far with the 2.0R
installation.

Specifically:

1. NFS installation fixed.
2. Installation from floppies fixed.
3. Now possible to disable floppy-tape driver that was hosing some folks.
4. Installation from tape should work fine (let me know if it doesn't).
5. UFS installation fixed.
6. Network installation Q&A improved.
7. XFree86 distribution install interacts on first screen, not second.
8. Rather substantial re-org of installation for easier understanding.

I'm just coordinating the re-rolling of the 2 boot floppies with the
release coordinator (Poul-Henning Kamp) so as not to step on his toes,
and one of us will be announcing the new floppies (in the
2.0-RELEASE/floppies/newer directory) shortly.

These are the only changes I intend to put in for 2.0.  The fixes for
ppp and some of Bruce's general reorganization will have to wait until
2.1 or for an interim, re-rolled 2.x release (2.0.5 has been discussed).

We can't simply re-roll 2.0 or our support situation would turn into a
nightmare..  Anything more than fixes to the install will require
bumping the release number, and as our release engineer hasn't
finished re-introducing himself to his wife yet, this is just going to
have to wait for a little while! :-)

And I'd also like to take this opportunity to say two things:

1. To all of you who've been supportive and understanding of the fact
   that 2.0 represents a MAJOR change from 1.x, and that it's naturally
   going to take some time for us to work the bugs out, THANK YOU!  We
   really appreciate your support.

   Most folks on the net understand what a "dot-zero" release means,
   and have been more than willing to suffer through some of the boneheaded
   mistakes I and others made in our rush to get _something_ into the hands
   of the community.  We aren't any happier about the bugs than you are,
   believe me, but there does come a time when pushing the release further
   and further out in the name of perfectionism buys you very little.  If
   the Jolitzes had learned that lesson, 386BSD wouldn't be the rather
   dying flame that it is today, and we're not willing to make the same
   mistake, even if it costs us a little hate mail.  We know that 2.0 isn't
   perfect, but with your help and our committment to frequent releases, we
   can get it a LOT closer very quickly, and with a lot more people involved
   than if we kept it locked behind closed doors with a "Keep out until we
   say it's ready!" sign on them.  A lot of people say that Linux's big
   appeal is its openness, and the willingness of the developers to work
   with its own community rather than shut out against it.  Others say that
   *BSD's big appeal is there's only one release to worry about, and that
   everything is tightly integrated.  Whatever people say about either system,
   I'd like to think that we've attempted to provide the best of both worlds
   and will continue doing so.


2. To all those who flamed us unmercifully for each and every problem
   encountered, often claiming that you'd never look at FreeBSD again, well,
   that's fine too.  Good riddance, actually!  We don't appreciate the
   flames, and if you're the sort who doesn't understand what this is all
   about then we'd MUCH RATHER you ran Linux or NetBSD (or, even better, left
   those poor folks alone and ran a *commercial* operating system where people
   get *paid* to listen to you whine!)  Really!  Mindless flames we can really
   do without, and for every rabid flamer we have (thank god!) 10 other
   people who are willing to work with us, so we really don't even have the
   time to waste on you when it's much better spent working constructively
   with the others.  We're sorry you didn't like FreeBSD.  Now go away. :-)


So as not to end this on such a sour note, I'd also like to add that
the team has been VERY responsive to the bug reports submitted so far,
and we are fixing problems on a daily basis.  All we ask is that you
give us a little time to sweep the spider webs out of our new 4.4 BSD
home (most people don't know that we started over almost from scratch
with the 4.4 Lite tape!) and make it as nice looking as (or even much
better than) 1.1.5.1.  The long delay between 1.1.5.1 and 2.0 was due
to rather severely changing legal and technical circumstances, and you
may rest assured that 2.0 -> 2.1 -> 2.2 -> 2.? will NOT proceed in a
similar fashion!  4 releases a year is our goal, and we're very
committed to that.

						Jordan
--
Jordan K. Hubbard	FreeBSD core team	Clams are your friends