Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:43:50 -0800 From: Marcel Moolenaar <marcel@xcllnt.net> To: "David O'Brien" <obrien@FreeBSD.org> Cc: cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/boot/powerpc/loader conf.c Message-ID: <20031210184350.GA2370@dhcp01.pn.xcllnt.net> In-Reply-To: <20031210170518.GA44514@dragon.nuxi.com> References: <200312100917.hBA9H26R081659@repoman.freebsd.org> <3FD6F0F2.4955B5B2@freebsd.org> <3FD702B2.80802@ptree32.com.au> <20031210170518.GA44514@dragon.nuxi.com>
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On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 09:05:18AM -0800, David O'Brien wrote: > On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 09:25:38PM +1000, Peter Grehan wrote: > > >What is missing for PowerPC to become a complete Tier-1 platform? > > > > My thoughts on a minimal list before it could become a candidate are: > > > > - sysinstall > > - self-hosted make release to create bootable CDs > > - gdb > > - syscons > > - XFree86 > > - kld > > - ADB kbd/mouse support for notebooks > > Most important thing left out -- stability. Along with being able to > repoduce your bits from CVS. Not to start an argument, but I actually found that usability is more important that stability when getting a platform off the ground. The reason is that stability is mostly a kernel internal focus whereas usability excersises all interfaces. Hence, being stable does not mean anything WRT stability of interfaces, but being usable or functional complete does. Instability can be fixed without having to change interfaces (most likely). I found that getting to a state of being usable I frequently had to revisit code I thought was good. Getting gdb working is one of those activities that resulted in some ABI breaking changes for example. A second reason for usability is that it's a good motivational booster. A stable OS that can only do buildworlds is not much fun. It's really cool to be able to surf the net with mozilla that's running on the machine you've been working on :-) Anyway: there's no single recipe. Have a plan, execute it and have fun. Tierness is for the masses :-) YMMV, -- Marcel Moolenaar USPA: A-39004 marcel@xcllnt.net
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