Date: Sun, 02 Apr 1995 00:17:50 +0200 From: Julian Howard Stacey <jhs@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de> To: kiran@cerc.wvu.edu (Kiran Reddy) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: i can help Message-ID: <199504012217.AAA02768@vector.eikon.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 22 Mar 1995 23:46:36 %2B0100." <9503222246.AA17313@gilmer>
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> From: kiran@cerc.wvu.edu (Kiran Reddy)
Ref.
---
i am a grad student at West Virginia University and I think i can help you guyswith some of the work.
Please let me know in what way can i be a help to you guys.
--
I append my somewhat dated suggestions list
=====
/usr/src/share/FAQ/PROJECTS by Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org>
IDEAS FOR PROJECTS FOR FreeBSD
INDEX
Section 0: Introduction
Section 1: /usr/src/sys Kernel Projects
Section 2: /usr/src Base Distribution Tools
Section 3: /usr/ports Porting of other Public Domain Code
Section 4: New Architectures & Kernels
SECTION 0: INTRODUCTION
This file notes some areas where FreeBSD offers scope for
development projects.
Proposals, queries, discussion etc, should be emailed to a list:
<hackers@freebsd.org> or <current@freebsd.org>
Corrections & updates are welcome, post them to a list,
as context diffs.
File may be somewhat old, feel free to plagiarise / butcher /
implement / improve :-)
SECTION 1: /usr/src/sys KERNEL PROJECTS
Auto Compressing File System.
{
MSDOS supports behind-the-users-back file compression
I suggest we do too:
(yet another file system type, along with mfs, isofs etc)
Suggester: Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org>
Comment available from: <jkh@whisker.lotus.e>
From: "Chris G. Demetriou" <cgd@nobozo.CS.Berkeley.EDU>
actually, i did this once, a 3-day-hacked, mostly-working proof
of concept version, to get an idea of what would really be needed.
(this was under 386bsd 0.0...)
<wollman@uvm-gen.emba.uvm.edu>:
One of the filesystem ideas that I've had for some time and never
gotten to implement is a generalized loopback filesystem; this would
support an external program (similar in concept to /sbin/mfs) which
would get control on opens and closes and do various things. So, you
could do any of the following things:
# mount -t glfs /foo/bar/baz/quux /bar
(direct loopback)
# mount -t glfs -o prog=cacheshepherd,cache \
/net/wuarchive/archives /archives
(interpose a local caching program between you and that dreadfully
slow NFS connection to wuarchive)
# mount -t glfs -o ro,prog=afsshepherd,cache /tmp /afs
(/tmp is a dummy here)
# mount -t glfs -o prog=trshepherd;[A-Z];[a-z],count=4 /bogus /mnt
(some idiot created an all-uppercase filesystem that you now have to
deal with)
# mount -t glfs -o prog=ftpshepherd;/anonymous@freebsd.cdrom.com:\
,cache /tmp /mnt
(hey, let's implment Ange-FTP!)
Steven Wallace <swallace@laguna.ece.uci.edu>:
I am in on this one.
I also like David Greenman's idea of a general purpose
filesystem.
.... controlled by an external program.
Keyan Li <kli@physunc.phy.uc.edu> 94 02 23:
We(a group of students) eventually decided to touch the
"automatic background compression", though still struggling with
a true understanding of the system.
}
Linux File System
{
Add 1 or 2 file system types to FreeBSD, so that either or both
Linux filesystem types can be mounted on FreeBSD.
(@ Jan. 94 Linux did not support BSD fast filesystems, & FreeBSD
did not support Linux file systems)
From: gibbs@uclink.berkeley.edu (Justin Theodore Gibbs)
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 1994 22:06:11 +0100
HPFS filesystem support:
A guy in the Linux Camp has allready done quite a bit of work
on this. All of the code I've seen is well documented with
his information sources listed.
All of his code has been posted to linux.development.
}
smarter config(8)
{
<joerg_wunsch@uriah.sax.de> (maybe):
It should be able to create the [cb]devsw[] tables,
the line discipline and network
interface tables, too.
wollman@uvm-gen.emba.uvm.edu:
Another thing on my TODO list. config doesn't need to know anything
about it; this should al be done by the linker (which does).
The work that I'll eventually end up doing will also make it much
eaier to have loadable device drivers and line disciplines (basically,
the *sw tables ALL go away and are replaced by something which is
dynamically allocated).
}
devfs
{
"Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@whisker.hubbard.ie>:
going to a devfs even while the drivers are static would
be a Good Thing. We could get our names correct, and in the short
term it might even let us eventually deprecate MAKEDEV as all entries
in /dev would always be correct. As a high level compact with the rest
of the kernel, devfs could just export:
<handle> = dev_reg_name(name, flags);
(void)dev_delete_name(name, flags);
Where "name" is "tty01" or "st0" or whatever.
}
Flush less dirty pages, but more often
{
<phk@login.dkuug.dk> (Poul-Henning Kamp):
I have often wondered if a scheme could be devised to flush
the dirty pages in a kind of "the 10% LRU every 3 sec"
instead of "everything every 30 sec".
John <dyson@implode.root.com> also has views on this.
--
Mark Tinguely <tinguely@plains.NoDak.edu> Wed, 9 Nov 1994
there is a USENIX conference paper on this idea for anyone interested in
doing this and it would give a point of reference for questions since this
the author(s?) actually implemented and tested for results (get more more
bandwidth out of drive).
--
terry@cs.weber.edu:
ftp.sage.usenix.org (otherwise known as sage.xerox.com)
has the proceedings papers for ftp download.
}
Floating Point Emulator
Improve/Rewrite It.
Jordan Hubbard <jkh@morse.ilo.dec.com>:
The FPE is very very weak and has been known to
be weak since the beginning; hell, it's been one of of our top `wish list'
items for the last year or so, and the only reason we haven't taken the
Linux version is the fact that the damn thing's GPL'd! Some negotiation
was done with the author in an attempt to get a more freely redistributable
one, but it didn't pan out.
SECTION 2: /usr/src BASE DISTRIBUTION TOOLS
FIXIT {
write a script to generate a fixit rescue floppy
Original Enthusiast: Jordan, 3/94
}
RCP {
Add flag for rcp -h -dereference (like tar),
to avoid sym links being converted to directories.
Maybe add an exclude list as per gnu tar.
Should rcp:
(A) Continue to default to copy symlinks as files or
directories, but with an additional flag to force
copy of a symlink as a symlink.
or (B) Default to copy a symlink as a symlink, with a
-h &/or -dereference flag,
to force copy of a symlink as a file or directory.
For (A) : Boyd Faulkner <boyd@bga.com>
phk@login.dkuug.dk (Poul-Henning Kamp)
rgrimes@agora.rain.com (Rodney Grimes)
ATS ( ats@first.gmd.de or ats@cs.tu-berlin.de )
For (B) : Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org>
}
Units Conversion Program
{
Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org> suggests U..x style program:
pound + solid (16) ounces : grams,
pints & fluid (20) ounces : litres,
psi : bar, fahrenheit : celsius,
british gallons : american gallons : litres etc
(PS maybe americans use 16 fl oz=1 pint ? might explain why
USA gallon < Imperial (British) Gallon)
}
Name of currently booted kernel
boot blocks need to pass this to the kernel
Rod Grimes wants to do this
Sup
Nate added a `transfer compressed option`
An `and leave compressed` option would be nice, for sup on a non
FreeBSD system with restricted disc space, (thereafter writing src
tree on tape to compile elsewhere).
Check System (Q & A quality assurance stuff)
Sanity check to run after making and installing entire src & ports,
to see if essentials are still running.
(Essentials for me are make & cc etc, (to rebuild),
kermit (for mail ;-) & groff & lpr.
Other people have other criteria.
Suggester: <jhs@freebsd.org>
SECTION 3: /usr/ports Porting of other Public Domain Code
Port Major Packages
{
Perhaps such as:
DTP (Desktop Publishing Packages), WP (Word Processing),
Scanner & OCR (optical character recognition),
Jeffrey Hsu <hsu@soda.berkeley.edu> suggests:
Andrew (package), stuff in ftp.x.org:/contrib & comp.sources.*
scheme, cad tools, tcl clients, games
To see what has already been ported:
Look in ports directory on freefall.cdrom.com
}
Basic:
{
Phil Cockcroft <cockroft.pad@sni.de> has a widely ported basic
intepreter, someone else on this list had a different basic,
already ported. Which to use ?
The basic was sought by <galamar9@teleport.com> for a configure
program he'd write (that would generate as output a file of
format such as /sys/i386/conf/GENERICAH).
}
Sys Admin Drag & Drop Interface
{
Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org> notes:
commercial customers like this sort of thing
its a strong selling point of major U..X style OS vendors.
}
SECTION 4: NEW ARCHITECTURES & KERNELS
Port FreeBSD to new architectures
{
Julian Stacey <jhs@freebsd.org> suggests:
- Import the netbsd /arch/ dirs,
- shake out makefiles some more (remove .i386 assumptions),
- start ports to new hardware
}
= = = = = = = = = =
Have fun, whatever you choose, whether on this list or not
Julian S
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