Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 09:45:28 +0100 From: Magnus Eriksson <magetoo@fastmail.fm> To: matthew sporleder <msporleder@gmail.com> Cc: misc@openbsd.org, users@dragonflybsd.org, netbsd-users@netbsd.org, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Unified BSD? Message-ID: <1352882728.28075.140661153435965.302F0E4C@webmail.messagingengine.com> In-Reply-To: <CAHKF-AuR4mU_CYj%2BD0nTe=hsja7MGemvx%2BSDi-692n5d0Tau4Q@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAOc%2B9seWtWaw=bx%2BKwjKXjULArijgcvbDR1gi_J%2BSQkFfsHTCA@mail.gmail.com> <CAHKF-AuR4mU_CYj%2BD0nTe=hsja7MGemvx%2BSDi-692n5d0Tau4Q@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012, at 14:18, Martin wrote: > My point is about the possibility of creating a new BSD project (with > separate developers) that aims for 100% compatibility with at least > FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and maybe DragonflyBSD. On Tue, Nov 13, 2012, at 22:43, matthew sporleder wrote: > If you are interested in generating linux-like "buzz" advocate > hardware manufacturers and industry types to fund (with money) > development of drivers. Not a developer, but here's something I've been thinking about: Are there perhaps some *parts* of the major BSDs (kernel interfaces, file formats) that could benefit from being unified / standardized? Maybe at least a subset of syscalls and libraries that could be agreed on and declared stable forever so that simple binaries can run? That is something that's already being done for Linux compatibility - except for the bit about stability. But why should I have to keep Linux binaries around for handling weird archive formats? I think matthew is basically right; but if there was only one single target to develop for, with a big fat sign on it saying simply "BSD", I'd bet that arguing for getting things written - graphics drivers or userland tools for managing ones RAID setup, or whatever would end up being feasible - would be easier. In my daydreams (slightly less unrealistic than the mail that started the discussion) I'm sending an email to a developer that says "Hey, you can get four done in one shot, and it's also a standard. And did I mention that Apple and the Minix project have been using lots of code from the BSD projects? Want to bet they'll adopt this too?". Yeah, I need to get out more, but you get the point. Magnus
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?1352882728.28075.140661153435965.302F0E4C>