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From: kols...@BSDI.COM (Rob Kolstad)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 8 Feb 94 21:39:25 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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This broadcast message addresses many of the questions that have arrived
in my mailbox in the last few days.
Q: After this lawsuit resolution, is BSDI still in business?
A: You bet. And we're shipping 1.1 early next week.
Q: The press release was unclear, do I get to keep my current copy
of BSD/386?
A: The answer is yes! BSDI is not recalling prior versions.
Any USA domestic customer whose support was valid through December,
1993 will be shipped the new V1.1 release. I will be mailing a paper
letter to each USA domestic customer detailing their service contract
status and verifying the V1.1 shipping address.
Q: What's all this about `binary-only files'? Will BSDI continue to
ship source code?
A: For Version 1.1 only, BSDI will ship the following kernel files
in binary format:
kern/init_main.c kern/subr_rmap.c ufs/ufs_bmap.c
kern/kern_clock.c kern/sys_generic.c ufs/ufs_disksubr.c
kern/kern_exit.c kern/sys_process.c ufs/ufs_inode.c
kern/kern_physio.c kern/tty.c ufs/ufs_vnops.c
kern/kern_sig.c kern/tty_subr.c
kern/kern_synch.c kern/vfs_syscalls.c
Our 4.4Lite-based release will again include the entire source tree
(with the exception of a tiny number of device drivers whose
interfaces are kept confidential at the request of their
manufacturer).
Q: Will BSD/386 V1.1 have lots of 4.4Lite BSD code in it?
A: Nope. 4.4Lite is not yet released, though I hear it will be available
soon. The next release should have significant 4.4BSD code in it. My
initial statement about ``immediately beginning work on'' 4.4 was too
enthusiastic -- we can't start on that until the code is released from
UCB. We'll do our best to base the next release on 4.4BSD.
Q: What neat things does 4.4BSD have?
A: Berkeley improvements since Net/2, our code base and the predecessor
to 4.4, include: improved filesystem throughput (through clustering),
availability of a log-based filesystem, stackable file systems (which
ease filesystem development), and networking code improvements.
Q: Wow, will you be making so many kernel modifications that the
reliability of the operating system will decline?
A: I do not anticipate any reliability problems as we move forward.
Most of the reliability improvements for Net/2 were 386-specific;
we'll be keeping those. The system architectures are, of course,
quite similar.
Q: Can you tell me more about the settlement? What happened?
A: As usual in these cases, the terms of the settlement are
confidential. We are delighted that USL chose to settle.
Q: I noticed your signature changed. Did you get promoted?
A: Yes, we now have a full-time president. Me!
Rob Kolstad
President, BSDI
====================================================================
/\ Rob Kolstad Berkeley Software Design, Inc.
/\/ \ kols...@bsdi.com 7759 Delmonico Drive
/ \ \ 719-593-9445 Colorado Springs, CO 80919
====================================================================
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From: ar...@oldman.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de (Arne Steinkamm)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 8 Feb 94 22:48:11 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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> Q: What's all this about `binary-only files'? Will BSDI continue to
> ship source code?
> A: For Version 1.1 only, BSDI will ship the following kernel files
> in binary format:
>
> kern/init_main.c kern/subr_rmap.c ufs/ufs_bmap.c
> kern/kern_clock.c kern/sys_generic.c ufs/ufs_disksubr.c
> kern/kern_exit.c kern/sys_process.c ufs/ufs_inode.c
> kern/kern_physio.c kern/tty.c ufs/ufs_vnops.c
> kern/kern_sig.c kern/tty_subr.c
> kern/kern_synch.c kern/vfs_syscalls.c
UUuuaaaahhh. That hurts !!!!! These files are exactly the handfull most
important files.
It's crazy... we speak about adaptec licences and a adaptec driver only
delivered as object and now we must live with this...
Can you give diff's to the 1.0 files :-)
Can you answer questions like this:
Has something changed in kern/init_main.c since 1.0 ?
If yes: can i send my patches to you and will i receive a new objects ?
This is a real question because the soundblaster 1.5 driver available from
BSDI.COM needs a minor change in this file.
Or: what does this mean to 386BSD, FreeBSD and NETBsd ?
Greetings
.//. Arne
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From: to...@BSDI.COM (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 00:51:05 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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>This is a real question because the soundblaster 1.5 driver available from
>BSDI.COM needs a minor change in [kern/init_main.c].
Fortunately, the change one applies in the old kern/init_main.c
---namely, a call to sb_meminit---now fits nicely in the (new,
temporary-for-1.1) file kern/subr_pdev.c.
Chris
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From: bd...@gag.com (Bdale Garbee)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 02:50:39 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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In article <940208224...@oldman.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de> you wrote:
: UUuuaaaahhh. That hurts !!!!! These files are exactly the handfull most
: important files.
: It's crazy... we speak about adaptec licences and a adaptec driver only
: delivered as object and now we must live with this...
Given that it's a relatively temporary situation, until a 4.4lite derived
system is available, there's probably no point in getting too emotional about
this.
: Has something changed in kern/init_main.c since 1.0 ?
As of 1.1beta, yes. I'd post the diff against the 1.0 cdrom, but I'm not sure
whether that would be an appropriate action for a beta site to take.
Bdale
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From: bd...@gag.com (Bdale Garbee)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 02:52:45 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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In article <940208224...@oldman.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de> you wrote:
: This is a real question because the soundblaster 1.5 driver available from
: BSDI.COM needs a minor change in this file.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, this driver will ship with 1.1, apparently. It
did not make the initial 1.1beta snapshot, but I've requested and received
the driver since. It merged with my 1.1beta tree without problems and without
edits in the kern directory, but I haven't tried it since my broken ankle has
kept me out of the basement for some time now... where that system is.
So, Soundblaster users need not despair.
Bdale
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From: greyw...@autodesk.com (Missing - presumed fed.)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 17:50:42 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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I'm just a watcher at the moment as I have no platform with which to
use 4.4BSDerivativesEtc, so if I seem a bit ignorant of the BSD/386 stuff
please pardon me. My main goal is to eventually end up with a 4.4BSD
SPARC port. This notwithstanding:
According to my understandings, 4.4-lite is due for release Real Soon
Now (which would appear to me to be about three months, probably less).
The missing files as listed by Rob Kolstad can also be found in the
NetBSD/FreeBSD releases. I'm not sure what's been changed between these
and the BSDi sources.
(I'll shut up now :-)
--
A _Real_ Operating System for _Real_ Users.
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UC BERKELEY COMPUTER SYSTEMS RESEARCH GROUP
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Make a hacker happy. Use a *real* OS.
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From: kar...@BSDI.COM (Mike Karels)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 18:12:47 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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Douglas H. Steves wrote:
> Reading between which lines? I saw nothing in the announcement to indicate
> that BSDi will be shipping "in fairly short order" the 4.4 Lite code.
> And, as the previous poster noted, the lack of source code here would
> be a major problem for me (and I suspect others), so I too hope that
> this is the first thing that BSDi ships after 1.1, and I hope that
> they don't wait for the next major release. (In my Top Ten List of
> Improvements to BSD386 1.1, 4.4 Lite is now #1 and everything else
> is #11 or lower!)
You can be sure that moving to 4.4-Lite will be priority #1 for BSDI
as well. We're laying plans now, and will be working at top speed
to convert once we receive the release from Berkeley. We certainly
realize that source availability is a big selling point for us,
and we want to return to full sources ASAP (or as full as allowed
for certain drivers). However, the release based on 4.4-Lite *will*
be a major release, trust me! There will be lots of change (for the
better). I'm sure we'll have things to say about ship dates later,
but it's too early yet.
Mike
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From: n...@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 19:11:37 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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> The missing files as listed by Rob Kolstad can also be found in the
> NetBSD/FreeBSD releases. I'm not sure what's been changed between these
> and the BSDi sources.
Except that those files are also 'tainted' and must be removed if the
FreeBSD/NetBSD folks don't want to get into legal trouble as well.
Everyone is waiting on 4.4 lite expectantly.
Nate
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From: greyw...@autodesk.com (Missing - presumed fed.)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 9 Feb 94 20:12:31 GMT
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What I have found out about the stuff which cannot be distributed in
source-form from the full-blown 4.4BSD release is:
Support for executing files, doing physical I/O, managing the
buffer cache, handling process tracing, terminal character I/O,
and doing accounting.
In short, everything that BSDi is now restricted to distributing object-
only.
I was also told that there are replacements for these restricted files,
and was referred to NetBSD/FreeBSD specifically.
If all this stuff needs to be rewritten from scratch, we're going to be
waiting a while.
Nate Williams writes...
/*
* > The missing files as listed by Rob Kolstad can also be found in the
* > NetBSD/FreeBSD releases. I'm not sure what's been changed between these
* > and the BSDi sources.
*
* Except that those files are also 'tainted' and must be removed if the
* FreeBSD/NetBSD folks don't want to get into legal trouble as well.
* Everyone is waiting on 4.4 lite expectantly.
*
*
* Nate
*
*/
[ End of excerpt from n...@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) ]
--
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If you can't interrupt it, terminate it.
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From: kar...@BSDI.COM (Mike Karels)
Newsgroups: info.bsdi.users
Subject: Re: About the Legal Settlement
Date: 10 Feb 94 02:01:42 GMT
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> What I have found out about the stuff which cannot be distributed in
> source-form from the full-blown 4.4BSD release is:
> Support for executing files, doing physical I/O, managing the
> buffer cache, handling process tracing, terminal character I/O,
> and doing accounting.
> In short, everything that BSDi is now restricted to distributing object-
> only.
The list above does not match the set of files that are binary-only
in 1.1 (although there is some overlap). The trickiest 3 of those 6
are not in the list of binary-only files. This list does, however,
match the set of things that were missing from the Net/2 release.
> If all this stuff needs to be rewritten from scratch, we're going to be
> waiting a while.
Without commenting specifically, you are being much too pessimistic.
One other oblique response to other messages: there have been references
to offending portions of some of the binary-only files. I will not personally
admit that there is any such thing as an offending portion of any file
in BSD/386. You should not attempt to draw any conclusions from the
inclusion of a file on the list of binary-only files.
However, I must say that I am looking forward to independent comparisons
of 4.4-Lite and Net/2, or corresponding portions of BSD/386.
Mike