From owner-freebsd-small@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Feb 9 19:27:08 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-small@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5BF2B16A4CE for ; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 19:27:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from cruzio.com (dsl3-63-249-85-132.cruzio.com [63.249.85.132]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1678D43D1D for ; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 19:27:08 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brucem@mail.cruzio.com) Received: from mail.cruzio.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by cruzio.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i1A5PhZ2001000 for ; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 21:25:43 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brucem@mail.cruzio.com) Received: (from brucem@localhost) by mail.cruzio.com (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i1A5PhfZ000999 for freebsd-small@freebsd.org; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 21:25:43 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brucem) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 21:25:43 -0800 (PST) From: "Bruce R. Montague" Message-Id: <200402100525.i1A5PhfZ000999@mail.cruzio.com> To: freebsd-small@freebsd.org Subject: Re: PicoBSD diskless embedded 'where to start' X-BeenThere: freebsd-small@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Dedicated and Embedded Systems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 03:27:08 -0000 Hi. Eric, you've hit on the crux of some things I think. > So since the FreeBSD people use it, can we agree to use it and just let it > drop at that? Yes, happily, subject to one point regarding terminology! You've probably found one of the reasons picobsd sometime gets considered a distribution separate from FreeBSD. Today "FreeBSD Development Projects" collides somewhat with a common current connotation of "open source project", namely implying an independent project with it's own resources, something like the "XFree86" or the "DragonFly" project. Words like "release", "distribution", and "project" are getting quite a work out. Regarding: > The project page for PicoBSD was last updated in Jan 1999. > ... > ... those changes are not even noted on the PicoBSD project page. > ... > It would be nice if the web page for PicoBSD was more active and current. In some ways it might be valid to consider picobsd a project that succeeded, became stable, and has now become just another element of the system. As you note, what might be considered the "development project" documentation has become dated. My sense (guess?) is that today "man picobsd" is considered the only up-to-date documentation and that the "reference configurations" are being allowed to lie fallow pending developments. Regarding: > does the latest PicoBSD script take advantage of > changes in the kernel that have been made in the last 49 months? I just checked the cvs for the script and doc: picobsd 1.28 3 months simokawa Remove obsolete disklabel and newfs options. picobsd.8 1.24 13 months schweikh english(4) police. http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/release/picobsd/build/ http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/share/man/man8/ These don't seem that out of line for something reasonably stable that slowly tracks FreeBSD developments as needed using the same methods as much of the rest of FreeBSD. - bruce