From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 10 17:56:23 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 68CD616A4CE for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:56:23 -0800 (PST) Received: from desolation.livid.de (portal.aphroland.org [216.39.174.24]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC57A43D2B for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:56:19 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from damm@yazzy.org) Received: by desolation.livid.de (Postfix, from userid 500) id B0EA9A1A45D; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:54:24 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Likens To: eqe@cox.net In-Reply-To: <200312102037.42947.eqe@cox.net> References: <200312092243.02269.eqe@cox.net> <200312100454.13107.eqe@cox.net> <3FD79801.7090605@acm.org> <200312102037.42947.eqe@cox.net> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <1071107664.16605.10.camel@desolation.livid.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.5 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 17:54:24 -0800 cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org cc: kientzle@acm.org Subject: Re: why support alpha?? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 01:56:23 -0000 On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 17:37, eqe@cox.net wrote: > It was not my intent to piss off anyone but the truth is freebsd needs to > seriously think about it's goals. I just thought if all the people dev. for > alpha started dev. for i686 and amd64 then the project would be stronger for > it. The alpha guys are valuable no question and again it was not my intent to > piss on them. I just don't have an alpha (I wish I did, but I don't) and so I > am only thinking about I686 or amd64. You're providing useless garbage. You haven't said anything helpful. The really sad part is I imagine you don't contribute ANYTHING to FreeBSD. Bug reports are something, so are patches, testing, commiting ports, helping write documentation, man pages, etc. Alpha has layed the groundwork for AMD64, and Sparc64 and has tought some valuable lessons to everyone who runs FreeBSD. This lesson is simple, we cannot forget the past if we are to goto the future. Point simply, by dropping support for Alpha would be very harmful to FreeBSD in many ways. It is growing, it's developing and helping us learn what we need to do with other ports. So I can honestly say that Alpha is a great platform, it has maturity, it has a 64bit architecture that we can grow with. Some people can ask the question why don't we drop i686 support since it's so old and ancient. The point is, as long as there is people willing to maintain the Alpha port, it will live. So, I hope that the Alpha port lives longer then you do. Enjoy -- "I think we ought to be out there doing what we do best - making large holes in other people's countries." - George Carlin