From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Dec 3 14:11:32 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from canonware.com (canonware.com [207.20.242.18]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7293714CB9 for ; Fri, 3 Dec 1999 14:11:28 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jasone@canonware.com) Received: (qmail 51183 invoked by uid 1001); 3 Dec 1999 22:09:34 -0000 Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 14:09:34 -0800 From: Jason Evans To: Jonathon McKitrick Cc: freebsd-chat Subject: Re: kernel threads Message-ID: <19991203140934.I44892@sturm.canonware.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 1.0i In-Reply-To: ; from jcm@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org on Fri, Dec 03, 1999 at 02:45:27PM +0000 Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Fri, Dec 03, 1999 at 02:45:27PM +0000, Jonathon McKitrick wrote: > I understand that there are a lot of issues to be settled if FreeBSD ever > decides to implement kernel threads. What i haven't seen (or what i may > have missed) is: when are they scheduled to be included in the system? > Are they tentative for 4.0? Or sometime beyond? Do us regular users need > to worry about massive instability problems with such a radically > different approach to multi-tasking? I know FreeBSD is concerned with > stability, and tests thoroughly, but obviously bugs will slip through, and > this is a major change in architecture, if i understand correctly. As Jordan is so fond of pointing out, FreeBSD as a free software project is generally unable to realistically say, "such and such vaporware will be ready for release X". That's because most of the developers don't get paid for the work, and so are under no obligation to deliver at all, let alone by an arbitrary deadline. What can be said is that the current visions for the "ultimate" threading system will *not* be part of 4.0; there is simply too much to do for it to be ready in two weeks, no matter how hard anyone tries. The userland threads support is in pretty good shape, and work is being done to get the LinuxThreads port whipped into shape by the time 4.0 is released. Neither solution is ideal, but they will have to do until the new threading architecture and all the prerequisite SMP improvements are developed. Jason To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message