Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 12:33:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Wesley Horner <wesman@azrael.uoregon.edu> To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: I hope someone is following this up Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980406122801.13128F-100000@azrael.uoregon.edu> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980404220218.274F-100000@ophelia.uoregon.edu>
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This seems like a great opportunity for both sides. The visablity for FreeBSD would be nice and it would help in keeping things compatible. my 2 cents worth, wes > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 20:46:22 -0800 > From: Wilfredo Sanchez <wsanchez@apple.com> > To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: FreeBSD and Rhapsody > > Howdy- > > I'm having a hard time figuring out how one becomes a FreeBSD developer > from your web site, so perhaps you guys can help me out. I work for Apple > Computer, and as you may know, we're building this operating system with > the code name Rhapsody. Rhapsody has a full BSD subsystem in it, and we'd > like to get a relationship going with FreeBSD if the FreeBSD team is > interested. > > Most of our BSD code comes from 4BSD Lite, which is a bit dated. Since > last year, I've updated a lot of our user commands using NetBSD's > sources. The decision to use NetBSD was pretty much arbitrary, although > the fact that I can acces their code via CVS, and now can commit changes > back in was a big influence. > > In any case, the BSD kernel guys at Apple usually use FreeBSD as a > reference. This led to some small gotchas due to differences between > NetBSD and FreeBSD, such as the fact that NetBSD lets you change mode > bits on symlinks, which FreeBSD (I think) doesn't. So I had a little > trouble with commands like cp, which tried to do this thing we don't > support. I haven't gotten to the network and system commands and the > libraries, where I think the biggest incompatibility problem lie, and the > consensus is that I should look into using FreeBSD for those. There will > be problems in any case, since we implement BSD over Mach, which makes > commands like ps somewhat unique from other BSD's, but the goal is to > minimize that. > > What I need to know is the degree that you would like to work together > with Apple, if at all, in this regard. It's important that we be able to > send our changes back upstream, since I believe that staying in sync with > our source provider is more important than any competitive advantage that > might buy us. UNIX is of little importance to Rhapsody from a market > standpoint; there are plenty of good UNIX flavors that one can get for > free; the value in Rhapsody lies elsewhere. But BSD *is* important for > several reason, which I'm sure you appreciate. The key is we don't want > to provide "a better UNIX", we just want to be compatible and play nice > with other systems, and have all that functionality. To that end, we > don't need to be unique, and cooperating with you guys would be much > better. > > I tried a few times to get CVSup to work on Rhapsody, and I found it > somewhat difficult, so I don't have that tool, although I could set up a > FreeBSD box to do that. Currently I plan to use the Walnut Creek CDs, > since that's more convenient. The question is how I would get changes > back up to FreeBSD. CVS access would be ideal, and is our current > arrangement with NetBSD. I understand that such access isn't easily > granted, so I'm open to alternatives. > > I should mention that I'm really not all that interested in the merits > of one BSD effort over the others. I'm a little surprised at the > animosity between some developers toward the other groups, and don't > really want to get involved in that debate, so don't tell me why the > other guys stink, in case you are so inclined. I have no loyalties > towards any one group. Ideally, we'd get the best of each, although I > think we'll need a primary to keep things sane, and our kernel guys like > FreeBSD. > > I believe that getting something set up that let us work together will > be mutually beneficial. We can leverage the work you have done, and you > can some paid developers to help with bugs. > > Thanks, > -Fred > > > --- > Wilfredo Sanchez - wsanchez@apple.com - 408.974-5174 > Apple Computer, Inc. - Rhapsody Core Operating Systems Group > 2 Infinite Loop, Mail Stop 302-4K, Cupertino, CA 95014 > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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