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From: Nate Nielsen <nielsen-list@memberwebs.com>
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To: Colin Percival <cperciva@freebsd.org>
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Date: Thu,  3 Nov 2005 15:39:58 +0000 (GMT)
Cc: freebsd-security@freebsd.org, Nielsen <nielsen@memberwebs.com>
Subject: Re: Is the server portion of freebsd-update open source?
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Colin Percival wrote:
> The FreeBSD Update build code is... umm... somewhere in between.  I think
> the best way to explain it is to say that I don't care about copyright on
> the build code, but the code is a stinking pile of hacks upon hacks with
> multiple known bugs -- so I don't particularly want to expose it to public
> scrutiny and I doubt that it will be very useful either.
> 
> Rewriting the build code is approaching the top of my todo list, but isn't
> there quite yet; in the meantime, if you can send me more details about what
> you want to do I'll see if I can accommodate you.

Thanks. Sorry for not getting back to you right away. The guys I'm
developing this project for have bought into open source and are
hesitant about using technology which isn't totally transparent and open
to peer review.

But in any case (after discussion), it seems like freebsd-update is in
fact the closest thing to what we need.

We have a many little embedded boxes in the field, and they need to pull
down updates. The updates are obviously non-standard:

 - Built with NOSHARED=no (all dynamic linking, no static).
 - Updates of various ports, like isc-dhcpd, quagga, vpn stuff etc.
 - Updates of our own customized binaries.
 - Custom kernel.
 - Greatly reduced fileset.

Getting access to the build code would keep us from having to implement
our own system (which would probably end up being based on
bsdiff/bspatch anyway).

Of course this is not a demand, but a request. BTW, thanks for all you
do toward security on FreeBSD.

Cheers,
Nate Nielsen