From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 13 23:14:45 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 02496B57 for ; Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:14:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ob0-x235.google.com (mail-ob0-x235.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4003:c01::235]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BA8D6C10 for ; Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:14:44 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-ob0-f181.google.com with SMTP id gq1so5253573obb.12 for ; Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:14:44 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:sender:from:date:message-id:subject:to:content-type; bh=je1muvQEuzwnGucXavb3cXS1pjgkFrb5DTYkgCucwdM=; b=GSzn+2kJz/8Ch6ibnK/4Xplt/vj4A3qsbTCbgL/SfXSSplMwEIMKpwsvTgYmAJI41M nivLipnIHzIZkJFY2NOo7Knu8bSlbt9O1gWJN3Ju6jrnjMRvQg/ZZMGaD/7nzkngzgqT CNDqo1n00l0WbSA70n1YOVHhnyIGmY0DihPofdz68rPum1J/OeFCcr4P4zNHZ41mLa4Y RlMlZkibmmvxESzKAV26mo1MpSKa1/uuXq1aUyHkG0yA3C8tR8I1JXicQyhgKFpgXsgM wt/J0h3iTE9bMIprw1vZ5Uo0oZ0a3YdHwGy+1Nq9w9JhrqzdClbChKqdcczx3UWtvCyo 1B0A== X-Received: by 10.202.72.151 with SMTP id v145mr525880oia.122.1421190884178; Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:14:44 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: royce.williams@gmail.com Received: by 10.202.89.132 with HTTP; Tue, 13 Jan 2015 15:14:24 -0800 (PST) From: Royce Williams Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 14:14:24 -0900 X-Google-Sender-Auth: T16T1fk7qWTmVMLb5ITZVfhauBE Message-ID: Subject: projects to better support FreeBSD sysadmins To: "freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org" Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 23:14:45 -0000 At Craig Rodrigues' request, I'm starting a new thread here branched from a freebsd-ports@ thread. For those who want more context, the original thread starts here: https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-ports/2015-January/097462.html It was initially about BIND REPLACE_BASE, but branched off into general sysadmin concerns that Craig wanted to respond to. Royce ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Royce Williams Date: Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 7:10 AM Subject: Re: BIND REPLACE_BASE option To: ports Cc: Deb Goodkin On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 4:08 AM, Kurt Jaeger wrote: >> No disputing that, just thinking, is FreeBSD being driven by user need, >> financial contributer need, developer need, security need, making things >> 'better' or just by people wanting to make their mark in a warped sense >> of "it'll all get better"...? > > Probably by developer *capacity* (not need) and fire-fighting, > like most IT stuff 8-( But like most IT stuff, resources are being asymmetrically applied to the root causes of the fires. Read the list of projects from last quarter: - Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) - amd64 Xen Paravirtualization - bhyve - Chelsio iSCSI Offload Support - Debian GNU/kFreeBSD - FreeBSD Preseed Installation (PXE) - Jenkins Continuous Integration for FreeBSD - New Automounter - QEMU bsd-user-Enabled Ports Building - VMWare VAAI and Microsoft ODX Acceleration in CTL - ZFSguru - Intel GPU Driver Update - SDIO Driver - UEFI Boot - Updated vt(4) System Console - Updating OpenCrypto - FreeBSD on Newer ARM Boards - FreeBSD/arm64 - LLDB Debugger Port - LLVM Address Sanitizer (Asan) - SSE Variants of libc Routines for amd64 - FreeBSD Python Ports - GNOME/FreeBSD - KDE on FreeBSD - The Graphics Stack on FreeBSD - Xfce The Foundation section also lists these items not overlapping with the above: - FreeBSD Journal - PostgreSQL performance improvements - Ongoing release process - Development snapshots - VM images for releases - Secure Boot planning - Infrastructure hardware - Java licensing - Summits and summit sponsorship - Travel grants, tutorials, and talks - New Design and Implementation book - Recruitment flyers Are there long-term improvement projects that aren't being listed? If so, they should be. At face value, the main project list is heavily weighted towards relatively esoteric OS features. The Foundation list is heavily weighted towards advocacy and communication (as it should be). What is missing are high-level projects to help sysadmins maintain and use FreeBSD on an ongoing basis. Here are some projects that would help to close the sysadmin gap: - Automatic error reporting and analysis - OS and port debugging tools for sysadmins - Independent project-wide usability analysis - Ports dependency isolation and reduction framework - Ports system reliability parity with Linuxes - Searchable, taggable project FAQ - Searchable hardware support matrix integrated with bug tracker - Wiki curation and platform improvements These projects decentralize and improve support for sysadmins and new adopters. As a business case for the Foundation, these projects should also deeply free up developer resources to focus on other major projects. In the past, when I have pointed out this "sysadmin gap", I receive one of two answers: 1. Sounds great. Let us know when you have it finished. 2. We're too busy to do any of those things. ... to which I answer: 1. These projects require technical skill and political capital within the project. They are ideally suited for well-established independent FreeBSD consultants with large blocks of time sponsored by the FreeBSD Foundation. I can help (especially with the wiki work), but cannot tackle these deeper problems in the way that others can. 2. The reason you're busy is that you don't have these things. I applaud recent work on Jenkins and cluster infrastructure. I also appreciate Colin Percival's automated error reporting work, because it directly attacks the sysadmin gap. And I know that getting releases out the door is time-consuming and keeps the lights on. But the overall project list needed to be rebalanced towards system administration. I request that the Foundation consider this when calling for proposals for the next round of funded projects. Royce