--- On Thu, 12/17/09, Joerg Schilling <joerg.schill...@fokus.fraunhofer.de>
wrote:
> From: Joerg Schilling <joerg.schill...@fokus.fraunhofer.de>
> Subject: Re: [osol-discuss] star [was: Some Why?-Questions]
> To: opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org, maybird1...@yahoo.com
> Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 6:28 AM
> ken mays <maybird1...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > > Dennis Clarke wrote:
> > > As a voice from the community I see star as a
> > > *need* and not just a want. It archive and
> extracts/packs just about
> > > anything.
> >
> > It is a want. A 'need' if nothing else existed which
> didn't serve similar purposes.
> > This goes back to the 'need' for Sun tar, GNU tar, and
> now star if community was to choose
> > only one of them moving forward. A technical
> whitepaper and some FAQs don't hurt.
>
> I see absolutely no need for GNU tar. What features are
> unique to GNU tar that
> "require" GNU tar?
Well GNU tar is just a tool so 'requirements' and a tool based on those
requirements is not so much in equality. Most FOSS developers utilizing
build management systems look for GNU tar to be in the system by default versus
something like Sun tar. Well, thisis where command parsing and compatibilities
get drawn on a white board somewhere in a virtual ballroom.
> There is a need for star in order to serve the needs for
> the features that are only
> available in star - note that star implements a lot more
> features than GNU tar.
True. I think star handles file sizes over 200 terabytes as well. Right?
>
>
> > Most of Sun's paying customers might not know what
> star is or they have other tools
> > in place if not commercial solutions. I don;t think
> they necessarily would come to
> > Sun for those solutions unless it was part of a bigger
> solution.
>
> I know of big sites that use star for backup purposes, so
> it is obvious that
> UNIX adminds know about star. Why does this seem to be not
> true also for some
> relevent Sun employees?
>
> Jörg
Well, if star doesn't get added to the Sun certification manuals or 'man pages'
for Solaris/OpenSolaris UNIX administration then one can only wonder?
The process I mentioned was defined a few years ago. If an external
contributor wanted software added to the OpenSolaris consolidation, it must go
through the process of being added to the package repository.
This way, it will flow to other OpenSolaris distros using the repository
for their own consolidations (aka 'making a compiled star binary package more
available to users' and a bit standardized among distros - if added).
Then, you'd probably have to file and sign some legal and engineering documents
based on your RFE for inclusion into the core distro.
>From what I can tell, someone named Fred Thornborrow mentioned star was filed
>a long time ago and he was going to look into it again. Someone fumbled the
>ball.
Case in point: The SongBird media player. A few years ago we wanted SongBird
added to the OpenSolaris consolidation in replacement of older media tools and
was specifically told by Sun management to go through the process I mentioned
earlier. As you see today, SongBird is in the package repository and also in
the larger OpenSolaris DVD consolidations for SPARC/x86.
Using 'whips and chains' might work as well, but I think if you used the
mentioned process you may get better results...
~ Ken Mays
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