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Date:      Thu, 25 May 2006 16:37:46 -1000
From:      Jim Thompson <jim@netgate.com>
To:        Ben Kelly <bkelly@vadev.org>
Cc:        Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>, freebsd-current@freebsd.org, small@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD's embedded agenda
Message-ID:  <9453AA8E-B50B-4BF4-91F2-1AC5538FC6E6@netgate.com>
In-Reply-To: <200605251628.58158.bkelly@vadev.org>
References:  <3500.1148571492@critter.freebsd.dk> <200605251628.58158.bkelly@vadev.org>

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On May 25, 2006, at 10:28 AM, Ben Kelly wrote:

> On Thursday 25 May 2006 11:38 am, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
>> Writing a flash-friendly-filesystem would be a good project.
>
> Would it be reasonable to try porting JFFS2 or are their reasons to  
> write
> something from scratch?

some people have concerns about the performance of JFFS2 on large  
flash devices (> 16MB).  Frankly, if supporting large
flash devices (or arrays) is an issue, then perhaps the wear-leveling  
intermediate layer with a standard filesystem on top is a better  
approach.

The real issue with porting JFFS2 is that its covered by the GPL, and  
putting GPL code in the FreeBSD kernel is typically considered a 'no- 
no'.

Still, the embedded linux folks get a >TON< of milage out of MTD+JFFS2.

Nobody has brought up supporting non-Freesbie bootloaders, either.   
Many boards use redboot, u-boot or one of the MIPS loaders to get going.
Getting these to boot FreeBSD will also be part of any solution.   I  
don't think its practical to port Freesbie to any new board, not in  
the short-to-medium
timeframe, either.

Jim




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