Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 01:45:25 -0800 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: Amancio Hasty <hasty@rah.star-gate.com> Cc: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, FreeBSD current users <FreeBSD-current@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: 3.0 -release ? Message-ID: <6959.881142325@time.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 02 Dec 1997 22:53:47 PST." <199712030653.WAA01384@rah.star-gate.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> Cool, ISPs will not run SMP for a very , very long time! > > Great!!! I'm never sure when Amancio's being sarcastic or not on account of the fact that he always talks this way but, just in case he was, let me simply say that ISPs steering clear of SMP right now is actually A Good Thing. Before we're ready to start telling customers that it's a good, cost-effective idea to purchase and operate x86/SMP systems, we need to be sure of several things: o That there are compelling performance reasons for running "typical" applications (those being web servers, interactive users, news servers, whatever) on SMP configurations, and at which number of CPUs this becomes most (and least) cost-effective. o That the SMP design and implementation has stabilized to the point where no unforseen traumas are likely to occur during the customer's tracking of the 3.0 branch (which we must, as usual, encourage). o That appropriate developer's interfaces exist for taking specific advantage of SMP, be it by way of kernel threads, mutexes or whatever mechanisms are generally the rage among SMP applications developers that week. We cannot forget the people who will be in the "first wave" of trying to make various real-world problems work faster since they'll be our staunchest advocates (or loudest detractors) if we don't provide them with all the necessary support for making SMP (and FreeBSD in general) look like a wise decision to their employer(s). In other words, let's get psyched about SMP and keep helping the likes of Steve Passe to test and improve our SMP support, but let's not jump the gun and try to "sell" this as something to be used for actual production purposes before all the proper pieces are in place and we can recommend it with real confidence in our numbers, our stability and our feature set. Getting to that stage is going to take the time it takes, and I don't predict rapid so much as steady progress on that project. And even so, for those final remaining ISPs who are in the "I don't care how dangerous it is, just let me try it for myself!" category (you know, the same ones who occasionally parachute to work and land in the parking lot or free climb the side of the building to their 8th floor offices, just to stay in practice), we have 3.0-current and the current.freebsd.org snapshot server just waiting to deliver the latest bits in a convenient selection of formats. To put it another way, if you want the release du-jour then you've got it, ready to install or upgrade you to very the latest bits. If you want one with 6 months worth of refinement and testing put into it, you wait 6 months. It's darn simple, really! :-) Jordan
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?6959.881142325>