The &os; Core Team

From owner-svn-doc-head@freebsd.org Fri Jan 15 05:09:28 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: svn-doc-head@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83D2EA82F51; Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bjk@FreeBSD.org) Received: from repo.freebsd.org (repo.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:6068::e6a:0]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 431141A4E; Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bjk@FreeBSD.org) Received: from repo.freebsd.org ([127.0.1.37]) by repo.freebsd.org (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id u0F59Rp4090375; Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:27 GMT (envelope-from bjk@FreeBSD.org) Received: (from bjk@localhost) by repo.freebsd.org (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id u0F59RJi090374; Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:27 GMT (envelope-from bjk@FreeBSD.org) Message-Id: <201601150509.u0F59RJi090374@repo.freebsd.org> X-Authentication-Warning: repo.freebsd.org: bjk set sender to bjk@FreeBSD.org using -f From: Benjamin Kaduk Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:27 +0000 (UTC) To: doc-committers@freebsd.org, svn-doc-all@freebsd.org, svn-doc-head@freebsd.org Subject: svn commit: r48022 - head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status X-SVN-Group: doc-head MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-BeenThere: svn-doc-head@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: SVN commit messages for the doc tree for head List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:09:28 -0000 Author: bjk Date: Fri Jan 15 05:09:27 2016 New Revision: 48022 URL: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/changeset/doc/48022 Log: Add core entry from matthew Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Modified: head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml ============================================================================== --- head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Fri Jan 15 04:18:08 2016 (r48021) +++ head/en_US.ISO8859-1/htdocs/news/status/report-2015-10-2015-12.xml Fri Jan 15 05:09:27 2016 (r48022) @@ -2471,4 +2471,164 @@ + + + The &os; Core Team + + + + &os; Core Team + core@FreeBSD.org + + + + +

Two major concerns have occupied much of core's attention + during the last quarter: the reorganisation of the Security + Team and the question of whether to import GPLv3 licensed code + into the source repository.

+ +

The Security Team reorganisation, first proposed to Core + during a meeting at BSDCan this year by Gleb Smirnoff — core + member and newly-appointed deputy Security Officer — has now + been accomplished. In order to improve the project's + responsiveness to security alerts, to maintain security on + privileged information received in confidence before general + publication and, not least, to reduce the work load on the + security officer, the role of the SO team has been redefined as + the controller of the distribution of security sensitive + information within the project; they are responsible for + interfacing with external bodies and individuals reporting + security problems, and connecting them with appropriate + individuals within the project with the technical expertise to + address the identified concerns. The SO team was cut down to just + the Security Officer and his deputy, assisted by a secretary, and + with input and help in drafting security advisories from former + and any potential future Security Officers plus liasons with Core, + Cluster Administration and Release Engineering.

+ +

Core would particularly like to thank the former members of + the Security Team group for their past contributions, now that + the Security Team role has been merged into the Security + Officer's responsibilities.

+ +

The other large question concerning Core is how to provide a + modern toolchain for all supported achitectures. Tier 1 + architectures are required to ship with a toolchain + unencumbered by onerous license terms. This is currently + provided for i386 and arm64 by the LLVM suite, including the + Clang compiler, LLD and LLDB. However LLVM support for other + (Tier 2 or below) architectures is not yet of sufficient quality + to be viable, and the older but pre-existing GPLv2 toolchain + cannot support some of the interesting new architectures such + as arm64 and RISC V. Pragmatically, in order for the project + to support these, until LLVM support arrives we must turn to the + GNU project's GPLv3 licenced toolchain.

+ +

The argument here is whether to import GPLv3 licensed code + into the &os; src repository with all of the obligations on + patent terms and source code redistribution that would entail, + not only for the &os; project itself but for numerous + downstream consumers of &os; code. Not having a toolchain + readily available is a big impediment to working on a new + architecture.

+ +

One potential solution is to create a range of "GPLv3 + toolchain" base-system packages out of a completely separate + source code repository, for instance within the &os; area on + Github. These would be distributed equivalently to the other + base system binary packages when that mechanism is + introduced.

+ +

Core recognises that this is a decision with wide-ranging + consequences and will be producing a position paper for + circulation amongst all interested parties in order to judge + community opinion on the matter. Core welcomes feedback from + all interested parties on the subject.

+ +

Beyond these two big questions, Core has handled a number of + lesser items:

+ +

Core approved the formation of a wiki-admin team to take + over managing the Wiki, to curate the Wiki content and work + on navigation and organization of existing technical content + and to evaluate new Wiki software with the aim of opening up + the Wiki to contributions from the public.
An external review board has been assembled to look at + the Code of Conduct, including a mixture of project members + and experts from external groups. The review process is + getting under way and Core is awaiting their report.
The standard documentation license was found to be + unfit for its purpose, and the doceng group had temporarily + reverted to the previous license while a new replacement was + drafted. This new license is now the default for new + documentation submissions. However, one factor emerging from + this review was the difficulty of maintaining correct + authorial attributions for sections of documentation, some of + which may only be a few words long. Unlike source code, + blocks of documentation are frequently moved around within + individual files, or even between files. Consequently Core + would like to introduce a "Voluntary Contribution + Agreement" along the lines of the one operated + by the Apache Foundation. With this, copyrights are signed + over to the &os; Foundation, with individual contributions + being recognised by recording names in a general + "Authors" file. This will be another alternative + alongside the existing copyright mechanisms used in the + project. Core is interested to hear any opinions on the + subject.
Core approved the formation of a new + "dev-announce" mailing list, which all &os; committers + should be members of. This will be a low-traffic moderated list + to contain important announcements, heads-ups, warnings of code + freezes, changes in policy and notifications of events that + affect the project as a whole.
Around eight years ago, an attempt was made to import the + OpenBSD sensors framework. This was rejected at the time as + potentially blocking the development of a better designed + framework. However, no such development has occurred in the + intervening time whilst the sensors framework has been in + use successfully by both OpenBSD and FreeNAS. Despite some + concerns about the efficiency of the framework and potential + impacts on power consumption and hence battery lifetime, core + is minded to approve the import, but wants to consult with + interested developers first.
Core is exploring the legal ramifications for the project + of the "Right to Be Forgotten" established by + the European Court of Justice.
Core is also seeking an alternative means for holding + their regular monthly conference calls. The current, + paid-for, service has less than satisfactory sound quality + and reliability, and Core would like to switch to a free + video conferencing solution.

+ +

This quarter also saw a particularly large influx of new + commit bit requests, with on occasion, four votes running + simultaneously. Please welcome Kurt Lidl, Svatopluk Kraus, + Michal Meloun, Jonathan Looney (Juniper), Daisuke Aoyama, Phil + Shafer (Juniper), Ravi Pokala (Panasas), Anish Gupta and Mark + Bloch (Mellanox) to the ranks of src committers. In addition, + core was delighted to restore commit privileges for Eric + Melville after a hiatus of many years.

+ +

No commit bits were taken in during the quarter. A + non-committer account was approved for Kevin Bowling of + LimeLight Networks. Kevin will be doing systems administration + work with clusteradm with particular interest in the parts of + the cluster that are now hosted in LLNW's facilities. Deb + Goodkin of the &os; Foundation was added to the developers + mailing list: she was one of the few members of the Foundation + Board not already on the list, and having awareness of what is + going on in the developer community will help her to support + the project more effectively.

+ +