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Date:      Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:38:18 -0800
From:      "Chris H" <bsd-lists@bsdforge.com>
To:        ports <freebsd-ports@freebsd.org>, Royce Williams <royce@tycho.org>
Cc:        Deb Goodkin <deb@freebsdfoundation.org>
Subject:   Re: BIND REPLACE_BASE option
Message-ID:  <fe6efb4ec026964fb08d50ada48957a5@ultimatedns.net>
In-Reply-To: <CA%2BE3k92LJPRNA-pj_5EkheMogWitpCfgaUi==KsfAz=gZMu5jw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <mailman.1.1420977600.74846.freebsd-ports@freebsd.org> <20150111235449.A14AEF52@hub.freebsd.org> <20150112040129.GA16097@lonesome.com> <CAG=rPVcTsT2izsmdGMJtD6RgRJ3CwfZg1vN6nC%2BvRMYEQ8iPhA@mail.gmail.com> <20150112122652.GA9472@lonesome.com> <54B3BE2C.6030207@sorbs.net> <20150112123241.GB9472@lonesome.com> <54B3C28C.10605@sorbs.net> <20150112130804.GD44537@home.opsec.eu>, <CA%2BE3k92LJPRNA-pj_5EkheMogWitpCfgaUi==KsfAz=gZMu5jw@mail.gmail.com>

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On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 07:10:46 -0900 Royce Williams <royce@tycho.org> wrote

> On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 4:08 AM, Kurt Jaeger <lists@opsec.eu> wrote:
> 
> >> No disputing that, just thinking, is FreeBSD being driven by user need,
> >> financial contributer need, developer need, security need, making things
> >> 'better' or just by people wanting to make their mark in a warped sense
> >> of "it'll all get better"...?
> >
> > Probably by developer *capacity* (not need) and fire-fighting,
> > like most IT stuff 8-(
> 
> But like most IT stuff, resources are being asymmetrically applied to
> the root causes of the fires.
> 
> Read the list of projects from last quarter:
> 
> - Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
> - amd64 Xen Paravirtualization
> - bhyve
> - Chelsio iSCSI Offload Support
> - Debian GNU/kFreeBSD
> - FreeBSD Preseed Installation (PXE)
> - Jenkins Continuous Integration for FreeBSD
> - New Automounter
> - QEMU bsd-user-Enabled Ports Building
> - VMWare VAAI and Microsoft ODX Acceleration in CTL
> - ZFSguru
> - Intel GPU Driver Update
> - SDIO Driver
> - UEFI Boot
> - Updated vt(4) System Console
> - Updating OpenCrypto
> - FreeBSD on Newer ARM Boards
> - FreeBSD/arm64
> - LLDB Debugger Port
> - LLVM Address Sanitizer (Asan)
> - SSE Variants of libc Routines for amd64
> - FreeBSD Python Ports
> - GNOME/FreeBSD
> - KDE on FreeBSD
> - The Graphics Stack on FreeBSD
> - Xfce
> 
> The Foundation section also lists these items not overlapping with the above:
> 
> - FreeBSD Journal
> - PostgreSQL performance improvements
> - Ongoing release process
> - Development snapshots
> - VM images for releases
> - Secure Boot planning
> - Infrastructure hardware
> - Java licensing
> - Summits and summit sponsorship
> - Travel grants, tutorials, and talks
> - New Design and Implementation book
> - Recruitment flyers
> 
> Are there long-term improvement projects that aren't being listed?  If
> so, they should be.
> 
> At face value, the main project list is heavily weighted towards
> relatively esoteric OS features. The Foundation list is heavily
> weighted towards advocacy and communication (as it should be).
> 
> What is missing are high-level projects to help sysadmins maintain and
> use FreeBSD on an ongoing basis.
> 
> Here are some projects that would help to close the sysadmin gap:
> 
> - Automatic error reporting and analysis
> - OS and port debugging tools for sysadmins
> - Independent project-wide usability analysis
> - Ports dependency isolation and reduction framework
> - Ports system reliability parity with Linuxes
> - Searchable, taggable project FAQ
> - Searchable hardware support matrix integrated with bug tracker
> - Wiki curation and platform improvements
> 
> These projects decentralize and improve support for sysadmins and new
> adopters.  As a business case for the Foundation, these projects
> should also deeply free up developer resources to focus on other major
> projects.
> 
> In the past, when I have pointed out this "sysadmin gap", I receive
> one of two answers:
> 
> 1. Sounds great. Let us know when you have it finished.
> 
> 2. We're too busy to do any of those things.
> 
> ... to which I answer:
> 
> 1. These projects require technical skill and political capital within
> the project.  They are ideally suited for well-established independent
> FreeBSD consultants with large blocks of time sponsored by the FreeBSD
> Foundation.  I can help (especially with the wiki work), but cannot
> tackle these deeper problems in the way that others can.
FWIW I'm already in the process of creating a wiki that will serve
as a FreeBSD Documentation Factory. I've created the wiki, and am
currently plugging in all the necessary "bits". This will permit
"live" documentation creation, and editing -- including man(1)
pages. It's currently backed by git(1), but conversions to other
RCS, SCM, VCS, {...} are all possible. In fact, I already have the
conversion methods available. This all makes it possible to import
any revision of any doc/man page as an "official" doc set.

Point being; as FreeBSD is Open Source, it heavily depends on
user-contribution. I'm not attempting to discount your previous
points, however. Just saying. As to the "sysadmin gap" a look to
the ports tree seems to indicate quite a volume of "sysadmin"
related ports. Are some missing?

All the best.

--Chris
> 
> 2. The reason you're busy is that you don't have these things.
> 
> I applaud recent work on Jenkins and cluster infrastructure.  I also
> appreciate Colin Percivals's automated error reporting work, because
> it directly attacks the sysadmin gap.  And I know that getting
> releases out the door is time-consuming and keeps the lights on.
> 
> But the overall project list needed to be rebalanced towards system
> administration.  I request that the Foundation consider this when
> calling for proposals for the next round of funded projects.
> 
> Royce
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