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linac!att!ucbvax!OKEEFFE.CS.BERKELEY.EDU!bostic
From: bos...@OKEEFFE.CS.BERKELEY.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.4bsd.ucb-fixes
Subject: V1.96 (CSRG status)
Message-ID: <9206200132.AA00904@okeeffe.CS.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 20 Jun 92 01:32:05 GMT
Sender: dae...@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Distribution: world
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
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Approved: ucb-fi...@okeeffe.berkeley.edu



					       June 19, 1992

     As you may already have heard, the CSRG is going to  go
away  after  the final release of 4.4BSD.  For the following
reasons, it is clear that the CSRG cannot  continue  in  its
present form.

     Funding has become increasingly time-consuming and dif-
ficult.  We are spending more and more of our time obtaining
funding, time that we would prefer to spend working on  BSD.
As  many  of you are intimately aware, computer corporations
are actively seeking ways to reduce  discretionary  outlays.
Also,  as  UNIX  vendors  have  developed their own research
groups, the work of the CSRG has become  less  necessary  to
them.    Finally,  making  BSD  freely  redistributable  has
resulted in fewer distributions sold, as other organizations
sell our releases for less money.

     Support  within  the  University  of   California   has
declined  as  BSD  has  become  less widely used internally.
Victims of our own success, many of the features once  found
only in BSD are now available from every vendor.

     The system has become too large and complex for a group
of  four  to  architect and maintain.  In particular, losing
Mike Karels has made it obvious to  us  that  the  group  is
below  critical  mass for developing and distributing a com-
plete UNIX system.

     So, we intend to  make  the  4.4BSD-alpha  distribution
available  around the first week of July.  We will spend the
summer and some part of the fall cleaning up the release and
make  the  final 4.4BSD release available in the fall.  When
the final release happens is mostly dependent  on  when  our
current  funding  runs out.  At that time we will close down
the group.

     BSD has always been a community effort, and, as a  com-
munity  effort,  does not rely on a small group of people in
Berkeley to keep it going.  BSD will not go away,  but  will
live  on through the free software and commercial efforts of
many people.  We thank you for your support over the  years,
your  funding,  and,  of course, the software you've contri-
buted to make the BSD system what it is today!


	  Kirk McKusick
	  Keith Bostic