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Date:      Tue, 12 Jun 2018 07:41:01 -0500
From:      Kyle Evans <kevans@freebsd.org>
To:        Alexey Dokuchaev <danfe@freebsd.org>
Cc:        Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>, Devin Teske <dteske@freebsd.org>, svn-src-head@freebsd.org,  svn-src-all@freebsd.org, src-committers <src-committers@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: svn commit: r334939 - head/stand/lua
Message-ID:  <CACNAnaF2m2oOOSGUswfKCvfDbRk-EqxaMP5bN5u%2BGuNMKX_qnw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20180612115105.GB75210@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <201806110132.w5B1WI5d094546@repo.freebsd.org> <E6FA26B8-63CF-4927-AE20-644D985BACD8@freebsd.org> <CANCZdfrtK_Cn1N2RE=f5DS_UNLq6C493LUNwQoHvYX06noVZxg@mail.gmail.com> <20180612115105.GB75210@FreeBSD.org>

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On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 6:51 AM, Alexey Dokuchaev <danfe@freebsd.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 11, 2018 at 08:07:23AM -0600, Warner Losh wrote:
>> ...
>> The last articulated plan in arch@ was that LUA will be default in 12, and
>> we plan to remove FORTH in 13. Last time I said it there in February, there
>> was only email agreeing that I could find. This matches the in-person
>> consensus poll I took at BSDcan as well. I think it would take a very
>> extraordinary set circumstance and severe problems with LUA to change those
>> plans.
>
> For the idiots among us, what's wrong the with FICL-based loader(8) and why
> is it being replaced with Lua one?

There's nothing wrong, per se, with the FICL-based loader(8). It is
incredibly stable, it works well, and Devin has done a great job of
maintaining it. The problem is that it's hard to get buy-in from
others on FORTH and it's a harder language for "kids these days" to
learn because it's so different from what's commonly used basically
everywhere else.

By maintaining the status quo, we're stuck in a situation where we
won't get any new blood (which we already don't have much of, mind
you) willing to maintain loader(8) because of this barrier to entry.

Lua, on the other hand, is much much easier to pick up and grasp just
by reading existing code. We've already had tons of interest from
others willing to hack on the Lua since introduction, and at least one
feature already added by someone who isn't me (auto-enumeration of
kernel directories in /boot).



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