----- Original Message ----- From: James Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, June 2, 2006 10:49 am Subject: Re: [osol-discuss] Re: What is OpenSolaris?
> David J. Orman writes: > > The truth of the situation, is, right now OSOL is not > > self-sustaining (nor anywhere close) and it is > > maintained/operated/successful because of @sun people. I'm not > > I'm not sure that's an entirely fair comment. There are several other > distributions, and we don't tell them how to do what they do. Maybe you should quote me in entirely then - there was more to my comment that was relevant: "I'm not saying nobody is contributing except @sun folk, that is absolutely not true. Just the majority of development of the code itself is @sun folk." Is it or is it not true that @sun people contribute the majority of the code that is OSOL? I'm pretty sure my comment was fair, and in NO way was it intended as negative/insulting/etc. I have upmost respect for Sun, and I am *trusting* Sun in their intent. This should be viewed as positive. > It's fair to say that the processes that manage the source base are > still incomplete, but you can join the 'tools' community if you'd like > to help work on that problem. I understand, and if I had the means, I'd be glad to. :) > > saying nobody is contributing except @sun folk, that is absolutely > > not true. Just the majority of development of the code itself is > > @sun folk. In other words, if Sun suddenly decided OSOL is only a > > code dump, I'd be at their mercy, and all of my work would have been > > for nothing. *That* is why I asked for some sort of official-ish > > response from Sun, because reality as it is NOW, is Sun's > > We've had many official declarations about our intent and direction > from the highest levels of the company. If you're not moved by those, > then I doubt that anyone here can help. Yes, I realize that, but you (again, not attempting to be inflamitory, but you bring this up) stated various things in earlier emails that led me to believe maybe there had been a shift. It could completely have been my *incorrect* interpretation of your words. I'm not putting blame nor pointing fingers. I'm simply saying, I saw things said that made me believe there was something different going on than what I had heard "officially" prior, and I was needing clarification (again, obviously other people questioning things too, they responded!) > > opinion/choice is the deciding factor at this point. Sun also > > controls SX/Solaris, and since they are my primary interest, I > > needed to know what OSOL means to them, so I can determine > > if/where/how I should apply myself. > > I'm rather surprised to hear that there could be some question about > what it means to us. There was question in my mind directly in response to your previous emails. It has now been clarified by Alan and Bev, and I understand. > Open Solaris _is_ the future. It's what we use to produce future > Solaris releases. It is the source base that represents Solaris (as > well as a number of other distributions). I understand that now, and that's what I asked in my previous mail directed at you. You replied I was incorrect, OSOL is not SX, is not Solaris. It is, it's the source/upstream/whatever term you want to call it, but it is SX/Solaris (albiet those releases are delayed.) I'm not saying OSOL can only be used for those, obviously other distros have sprung up and used OSOL as their basis. Just OSOL in it's stock form, as a project, is what becomes SX and is what becomes Solaris. This has been confirmed, and I am clear on things now. Your previous mail to me (at least through my interpretation) told me I was incorrect in this type of thinking. > Right now, the open processes are just a year old, and they certainly > need to grow quite a bit and become more robust, but the change is > rather fundamental. That's understood. > It's also a community. We don't have absolute say here, so saying we > do is missing the point. We do have say over what ends up shipped as > Solaris proper -- our distribution -- but not over the community as a > whole or what it does. The CAB, which is not just Sun, does that. I never said Sun had absolute control. I did say they are the primary force behind OSOL *right now* and without them, OSOL wouldn't exactly be going anywhere. When the community is doing a large part of the coding/etc, then Sun won't be in a position that they could (theoretically - I'm NOT saying they would!!!) pull out their support and the project would die. If Sun jumped ship from OSOL right now, it'd almost assuredly die. No offense is intended, but if you look at the code, it's 99% Sun. Distros are of course maintained outside of Sun, but the large portion of what makes them OSOL distributions, is Sun maintained. Getting it? All that said, again, I'm trusting Sun to continue with OSOL, I just needed clarification as to what their intent for the OSOL project was, because of my interpretation of your mails. Now I understand, and I'm content. I believe it clarified things for a few people, not just myself. > So, if your aim is to influence the components in Open Solaris, the > ones that will be used by multiple distributions (including Solaris > itself), then this is the right place to be, along with all the > communities and projects that make up Open Solaris. If, instead, you > need support for Sun products (Solaris or otherwise), then you need to > talk to our support folks. Or, more generally, if you want to > influence the direction of one of the distributions in particular, > you'll need to talk to the folks who produce that distribution. My aim is to influence the direction of SX/Solaris. Thus, helping/supporting/contributing to OSOL *is* the right path for me. I'm not asking for somebody to hold my hand and show me how to format a disk. I want to help shape SX/Solaris in ways that benefit me (and due to this, others...) Interacting with OSOL is the way to do this, as I've had confirmed now. Do you understand my viewpoint now? Nothing negative towards Sun (I'm one of your biggest supporters, you should see all the stuff I post on the net, and hear all the things I say in the "real world" about Sun, and all the people I direct to you..) Don't misunderstand my intentions. :) David _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
