Some time ago we discussed our projects approaching 10year birthday,
and couldn't quite agree on the actual birthday.
Here is the answer:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jaye Mathisen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: What's "FreeBSD"?
Date: 25 Jul 1993 21:14:59 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, MSU, Bozeman MT, 59717
Lines: 132
Message-ID: <22ut4j$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
References: <22up8o$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: fubar.cs.montana.edu
According to Tim Chase <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>What's this "FreeBSD" thing I've been reading about in
>the comp.os.386bsd groups over the last week or so?
>Do I gather it's another NetBSD-like effort?
>
(What FreeBSD is about is down a few paragraphs, the
next few are just a brief history of time).
In the beginning, there was the void. And then
the void started to fill with manic Unixites running
a semi-OK port of BSD Unix to the 386 architecture.
Version 0.0 stunk. It ran, but stunk. Along came
0.1, which worked better, but still needed massaging.
The solution? A joint effort between the developer
of 386bsd and the user community to provide patches,
updates, fixes to aforementioned user community.
What really happened? The original developer battened
down the hatches, and wandered off into developing
something called "0.2", which would do everything
you ever wanted in a Unix, and more.
So a nice man started putting together something
called "the patchkit", which was a semi-organized
method of getting fixes to the community.
This first pioneer passed the reigns to young Nate Williams,
right here at Moo-U, a hyperactive Unix guru wannabee
with nothing but time on his hands.
However, the demands of classes took their toll, and the
patchkit passed on to first one person, and then
finally 1 more.
At this time, with the original developer of 386bsd
off in "0.2-land", refusing to help or participate
in any way with making 0.1 any better, the idea
to form the "interim" group came about.
The Interim Group's stated goal was to provide a "solid"
(if that term can be used) 0.1 + all the patchkit
baseline release, hopefully getting ready for the
promised (and promised and promised) rapidly approaching
fabled release of 0.2.
Somewhere in this time frame, a few other code wizards
got fed up with Jolitz and his general bizarreness,
and formed a group called NetBSD. NetBSD is based
somewhat on 386bsd, but has several advantages to
386bsd, in that for one thing, you can actually
talk to a developer, and they won't wow you with
epics about the fabled 0.2 release which will solve all
your problems. Source snapshots are readily available,
and NetBSD is being ported to other architectures,
although I don't know much more about it than that.
With what little communication there was between the
Interim Group and WFJ rapidly falling by the wayside,
(Through no fault of the IG, hell, I was there for
a lot of it, and you wouldn't believe some of it),
the final straw had been reached. And thus FreeBSD
was formed.
FreeBSD is essentially:
1) 0.1 with all the patchkits through 0.2.4, and
other patches that would've made it into the full
0.1.5 "interim" release.
2) Most, if not all the utilities have been
updated to latest releases, including the GNU
stuff.
3) Many enhancements to the 0.1 +pk0.2.4 kernel
have been incorporated, some of those coming from
NetBSD. RockRidge support, New NPX and INTR code
from bde, and other stuff has been integrated.
4) Essentially, we tried to pick the best things
from 386bsd, NetBSD, and whatever other work
people did to provide a new stable baseline to
work on 386bsd. In FreeBSD's case, the main
goal is stability, and smooth transitions from
release to release.
5) FreeBSD is being configured for ease of
installation (ie, go to /usr/src, fire off
make, and see the world unfold), and configuration.
6) Finally, FreeBSD is being laid out with an
eye toward CDROM distribution.
What FreeBSD is not:
1) Leading edge/bleeding edge. NetBSD is
probably a better choice here if you want
to walk the edge. NetBSD is hacked and bashed
on quite a bit, and occasionally some major changes
are made, and it takes a while to get the
kinks worked out. Some of these changes are
to support the port to other architectures. FreeBSD
is not under this stricture, so we don't necessarily
have to make the changes involved. (I am not
interested in debating the merits good or bad of the
changes, as that appears pointless).
2) Evolving quickly. ie, the FreeBSD group
is trying to provide a stable base to work on. Which
means that you're not likely to see major changes
in any of the code so much as just enhancements,
bug fixes, and updates. Things like utilities and
stuff.
3) Direct competition to NetBSD. We are not trying
to "ace" out NetBSd in any way. In fact there are
members of FreeBSD that belong to NetBSD lists, and
vice versa. We have NetBSD people looking over our
shoulders as well. The goals of NetBSD and
FreeBSD differ, and which one you use is entirely up
to you.
(Before you ask, yes, there was talk of merging
the two efforts. I will not go into it any more
than to say that there are some strong personalities
involved that made the combination difficult. Perhaps
in the future).
--
Jaye Mathisen, COE Systems Manager (406) 994-4780
410 Roberts Hall,Dept. of Computer Science
Montana State University,Bozeman MT 59717 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
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