Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 20:08:49 -0600 (CST) From: "Lee Crites (AEI)" <leec@adam.adonai.net> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: SCO (was Re: hi terry) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.980319193539.19449D-100000@adam.adonai.net> In-Reply-To: <12508.890354292@time.cdrom.com>
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On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: =>Heh. I think we first mentioned clustering as something on =>FreeBSD's wishlist as early as 1995 or so. The problem here is =>not in finding enough people to say "yeah, clustering is =>cool!", the problem here is in finding people to say =>"clustering is cool, please check out my FreeBSD =>implementation!" :-( While Jordan is probably correct (I wasn't around in '95 to see the wishlist), I'm thinking it is a little more complicated than that. First off, I don't know where the "wishlist" is, if, indeed, it exists as an entity which can be "seen." I really haven't done a lot of tinkering around in the web pages, so it might be there and I just haven't seen it. Second, I don't think anyone will just present something as complicated as clustering to the group and say: "clustering is cool, please check out my FreeBSD implementation!" There has to be a lot of groundwork laid and a fair amount of emphasis from the top down before any person (or group of people) would take on something of that size. Now I think I understand what Jordan was getting at -- FreeBSD is self supported and that if we don't do it, nobody else will. But I also don't think anyone will go out of their way to do something unless they see some direction for it. Third, the potential list of "somebodies" who could really "do the job" is fairly limited. While I do have a copy of the entire tree available to me, it is really those of the core team which are doing the bulk of the development. Somewhat over a year ago I sent out my second message offering to help on a project. It was literally the first time I had offered free help and had the offer turned down. Jordan responded to my message of dismay concerning that situation with a description of the core team and how it worked -- along with an offer to help me get some stuff going (thanks, Jordan). Since that time, though, I have seen several others (including a college senior who wanted to do something for his senior project) who made similar comments. This third point isn't all bad. Part of the reason (I think) fbsd is as stable as it is, is because of the limited group of submitters. You have tighter control over what does and doesn't make it into the code base. This is not bad. The quality control is, in fact, good. But you have to take both sides of that coin. What someone like me would have to do is develop something, lock, stock, and barrel, then present it -- as an outsider -- to someone on the inside, which I will have to convince to take it on, in order to get it approved and integrated. I'll do that for something rather small. Perhaps a driver or utility. But, quite frankly, I won't put in the time to do anything close to clusters without some significant support from the "inside." So we're back to my original comment: those people who control the direction of FreeBSD need to take a step back and see where the industry is moving and see where they want it to be. Perhaps you already have, and if I saw the "wishlist" I'd know it... Lee =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Lee Crites www.adonai.net/~leec Tandem/Compaq (Austin) Adonai Services Company phone: 512-432-7112 phone: 512-789-7853 leec@austx.tandem.com leec@adonai.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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