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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.ysu.edu!news.radio.cz!newsbastard.radio.cz!news.radio.cz!CESspool!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsgate.cuhk.edu.hk!news.hk.net!howland.erols.net!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!daily.bbnplanet.com!dtodd From: dtodd@bbn.com (David Todd) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.openbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: *BSD Unification? Date: 4 Apr 1997 14:40:15 GMT Organization: Bolt, Beranek, & Newman, Inc. Lines: 50 Distribution: world Message-ID: <5i33sf$dge$1@daily.bbnplanet.com> References: <860029226.1885@dejanews.com> <5hvj0g$gvj@panix2.panix.com> <5i0e9j$1qc$1@daily.bbnplanet.com> <3343CF60.1CFBAE39@FreeBSD.org> <5i171n$erp@panix2.panix.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: mars.bbn.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:38458 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:5749 comp.unix.bsd.openbsd.misc:52 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2941 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:1217 No, No, don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting merging them would be easy. However, it's an important PR issue to remember that there are PR issues. As proponents of *BSD systems, we absolutely must be forthcoming when asked questions. Of course, sometimes thet answer has to be something like: "The possibility of merging the various BSD's has been brought up from time to time, and unfortunately is current regarded as technically very difficult, and politically difficult as well. There are too many philosophical and personality differences for this to be useful at this time. If it is any consolation, the BSD's try to have binary compatibility with each other, and tend to use most of the same development tools. Porting programs from one to another is usually trivial." But this is an important point: the more people who are looking at the BSD's, the more support any of them is likely to get. Perhaps you are happy to keep is as an after work hobby, but some folks out there would love to start a small Cygnus-like business of supporting BSD in commercial settings. This would go a long way towards getting people to lend a hand with all the user level thingies that make a system fun to use. The fact that I feel slighted by the remarks of those who are working closely with the project is an important one. I started on 386BSD, then went to FreeBSD, and then to NetBSD. I have invested quite a bit of time learning how to support it. Yet I do not see a rosy future for the BSD's. The attitudes occasionally displayed by BSDers is one of "go away and let me concentrate on *real* issues." (I am not saying I have seen that from you, but I have seen it from others.) Remember, it may be satisfying to code a really elegant, bug free, and robust kernel module, but it is MUCH cooler to have thousands of people thank you for it. In fact I am specifically thinking of the long round of applause and cheers when Ian Taylor introduced himself when they were asking people to get up and let everyone know what they had contributed at a forum at USENIX a few years ago. Linus is a sort of demi-god these days. But I have known about members of the various core teams much longer. Their work deserves recognition. -- Hacksaw -- Hacksaw = David Charles Todd BBN = Hacksaw's Employer Hacksaw's Opinions != BBN's Opinions It's hard to (rec'' (e) ni'ze bee''ch)