Alex Hornung posted a description of the work he’s done so far on a new I/O scheduler, with some details on his ideas on multiple scheduler levels. Feedback is welcomed.
Month: February 2009
02/27/2009
DragonFly on Buzz Out Loud
CNet’s Buzz Out Loud podcast #918 mentions the new DragonFly release, though I haven’t yet listened to it to find out how far they get. Also, in the comments. (Thanks, Will Backman)
02/26/2009
Mirror in Belarus
RUE Beltelecom has a DragonFly mirror; it includes images, snapshots, and binary packages. It’s already listed on the download page on the DragonFly website, too.
em(4) updated; adds a module
Sepherosa Ziehau has updated em(4) to version 6.9.6, with some interesting improvements. It does possible require loading a module now. He also has more patches to test.
02/25/2009
Commit template returns
Matthias Schmidt readded the CVS DragonFly template. However, git being git, you have to manually bring it down to your local clone of the repo. Do this with:
git config --add commit.template /usr/src/tools/gittemplate
02/24/2009
More Summer of Code evangelism
If you can see YouTube, you can see a 20-minute presentation from a Philip Johnson about his experiences from Google Summer of Code 2008, where he was a mentor for another project. If you aren’t familiar with the Summer of Code project, or think that you might participate as a student, this is a good introduction to the concept.
Everyone blogs, sooner or later
Rob Pike, one of the people responsible for UNIX, among other things, has a photo blog. (via)
Incidentally, his wife’s books are good, and wierd, and I read them long before I had any real idea who Rob Pike was, in a wierd bit of synchronicity. Early computer science history would be a good topic for Jim Ottaviani to publish, come to think of it… (also recommended)
pkgsrc as system performance benchmark
For anyone interested in profiling: I posted details on a bulk build of pkgsrc that seem to imply it’s limited by something other than CPU. The ensuing discussion had some ideas on how to speed up the whole process.
02/23/2009
New Russian mirror
I’ve set up another mirror at df.v12.su, on some equipment/space/bandwidth kindly donated by GP Internet.
A cheap backup strategy
Freddie Cash has an interesting writeup of how he put together a very capable and cheap backup system using ZFS; this is part of a larger discussion on Hammer, ZFS, performance and solutions.
em(4) update
Do you use em(4)? Sepherosa Ziehau has an improved version for testing. What’s changed? Dunno.
02/22/2009
Some website tasks
I’ve updated the website section of the Projects page on the DragonFly website; if you were looking for some things to clear up, some of them are relatively trivial.
Desktop DragonFly?
“Desktop NetBSD” – with the DragonFly LiveDVD and installer, we’re almost able to do the same thing now – a skim of that project page seems to imply we just need to add some more packages. (via)
Too much work to follow
As I try to catch up with a large backlog of messages (I was traveling), I’ll note that Sepherosa Ziehau has done a lot of work on network card support and Sascha Wildner on WARNS cleanup; both of them have made so many commits in the last few days I’m just going to throw up my hands and point at the date index for this month’s commits.
02/19/2009
Guides: netcat
Another one of those tools that can be handy to know: netcat. Here’s a nice guide about it.
02/18/2009
2.2 is out
DragonFly 2.2 is released! Visit the release page for details. As always, please use a mirror when downloading.
02/16/2009
screen, and why you should use it
This IBM developerWorks article about screen goes into a lot of detail about how screen works, and has some nice examples of usage. (via)
One of the problems with screen is that it has a lot of settings and changes to use, which makes initial adoption difficult. However, it’s very useful…
02/15/2009
One bite at a time
This post on Blog Pseudoaccidentale described, by way of a parable, how many people think, incorrectly, they can’t contribute to open source. (The article says “FreeBSD”, but the rule applies to any open source project) It’s a matter of doing something, no matter how small, consistently.
I’d even use that analogy differently and say, “How do you eat an elephant?” Hint: see title.
(Thanks, Matthias Schmidt, for the link)
02/14/2009
Valentine’s Day for an OS
From O’Reilly: a love note for UNIX. Today’s the day for it, after all.
GSoC 2009: wiki, FAQ available
The wiki from Summer of Code 2008 has been opened up to the world and is being treated as a general resource for mentors and students, so please consult it if you are thing of being either one of those things.
Also, a FAQ for the 2009 session is together. Applications start in March, so get yourself together…
Update: Dates mentioned here, by me.
telnetd vulnerability fixed
A vulnerability in telnetd code common to FreeBSD and DragonFly was just discovered; it’s been fixed in DragonFly using code from NetBSD in 1995, strangely enough. (via #dragonflybsd on EFNet)
02/13/2009
BSD in Argentina
‘Sdävtaker’ posted a note about BSDday-AR, happening in Buenos Aires on May 29th and 30th. There’s a Spanish version of the site; no English yet.
More about epoch than you ever knew
There’s an extensive article on “Unix’s Magical Moment” up on the O’Reilly site, with more details about that upcoming 1234567890 epoch time. That moment is probably happening very close to the same time you are reading this.
02/12/2009
AsiaBSDCon schedule posted
Hiroki Sato has posted that the schedule for AsiaBSDCon 2009 is now available. It’s happening in March, and registration will be available soon. There’s still time to get a paper in, if you hurry…
pkg_raddical
Matthew Dillon has updated pkg_radd to download based on the uname of the system where it’s run. This means binary downloads can be keyed to the appropriate release, instead of just whatever’s most recent on pkgbox or any of the mirrors.
02/11/2009
BSD Magazine: NetBSD
There’s a new issue of BSD Magazine out, and it’s (almost) all NetBSD. Apparently there’s been several issues, and I’ve been slack in covering them. (via)
Python goes bump
The default version of Python in pkgsrc is now version 2.5. Be ready for this on your next upgrade.
02/10/2009
More test opportunities
Not only is there going to be BSDA exams available at AsiaBSDCon, but there is now a permanent testing facility for the BSDA in Brazil.
BSDTalk 170: McKusick at DCBSDCon
BSDTalk 170 has Marshall Kirk McKusick (His first name’s Marshall? Thought it was Kirk.) talking almost an hour of BSD history at the recent DCBSDCon. I’m assuming it’s going to be the first of several recordings coming from that event.
02/09/2009
2.2 update 2
Matthew Dillon posted another summary of the road to the 2.2 release, scheduled forFebruary 15th. Among other things, this release will be available in a LiveDVD form which looks to be about a gigabyte in size with all the added packages.
Art & Code, EuroBSDCon, projects
The FreeBSD Foundation is looking to give people money to work. (pdf) Specifically, they have USD $30K to give to people wanting to work on FreeBSD subsystems. Fight global recession!
EuroBSDCon 2009 is being held September 18-19th in Cambridge, UK. That’s a long way off, but they just opened their call for papers.
Art & Code is March 7th, at Carnegie Mellon. “Programming for Artists” – it’s cheap, and the output should be interesting. (via)
02/08/2009
Badges for you
I’ve updated the images page on the DragonFly site. It now has some added wallpaper and DragonFly badges for you to use as needed, and it’s all thumbnailed to make it easier to browse.
Opinion time
I like the smaller font size on the DragonFly website, because it packs in more information, but it throws off the visual balance of the sidebar. How about: http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~justin/testblock/ ?
02/07/2009
Google SoC 2009: keep thinking
Matthias Schmidt has created a page for DragonFly project ideas, for Google’s Summer of Code 2009. (Nobody’s accepted yet, but we were last year and I’m optimistic we can be again) If you would be available to mentor, add projects you’d enjoy mentoring. If you’ll be an eligible student, give it a read.
First highlights from DCBSDCon 2009
Dru Lavigne was at DCBSDCon, and her initial notes mention Robert Luciani’s talk on threading in DragonFly.
More PDP-11 programming
Was it really this painful to program a PDP-11? I can only imagine every other alternative was worse. (via)
02/06/2009
@Play: Spelunky
@Play has a new column up, this one about “Spelunky”, a tile-based underground exploration game. This game’s new and has been getting some buzz; it’s a sidescroller game that has aspects of roguelike play.
Also, this column is the 50th @Play column and, at the bottom of the page, has a nice list of past articles by topic.
02/05/2009
Last 2.0 package build
One last build of pkgsrc 2008Q4 is complete on pkgbox.dragonflybsd.org; 2008Q4 packages for 2.2 will be available at time of release.
<3 1234567890
The epoch time is going to reach 1234567890 near Valentine’s Day, as noticed by Hubert Feyrer. The extreme nerdiness of that moment makes it that much more entertaining.
02/04/2009
Yes, there’s 2.2 packages
Thanks to Matthias Schmidt donating some machine time, I have pkgsrc 2008Q4 packages built for a recent DragonFly 2.1 system but labeled 2.2 already built. They’re uploaded to pkgbox.dragonflybsd.org and should be available on a mirror by the time of the 2.2 release.
02/03/2009
Feature Freeze is here
As Simon ‘corecode’ Schubert notes, DragonFly is now in a ‘Feature Freeze’ for two weeks. Please work on bug fixes in the intervening timeframe, and push them to the ‘master’ branch. Changes for the release will be pushed to the 2.2 release branch. Matthew Dillon has more details.
BSDPhone possible
This has been all over the Intarwebs at this point, but: there’s a good rumor that the next Sidekick phone will be running NetBSD on the inside. Danger, the company that makes the Sidekick, was bought by Microsoft, which makes this a BSD-based phone produced by Microsoft. I never thought I’d type that sequence of words together.
02/02/2009
February OSBR: Commercialization
The February issue of the Open Source Business Resource is out, focusing on “Commercialization”.
Getting ready for 2.2
A post from Matthew Dillon notes that development will go into a ‘mini-freeze’ for two weeks while the 2.2 release is put together, along with news of a DVD release for 2.2 that includes many prebuilt packages, and some Hammer details.
02/01/2009
Alternatives to spending money
Dru Lavigne has an article up at Wazi talking about open source alternatives, on a product by product basis. I’m looking forward to part 2, where she will look at Visio alternatives. (via)
The Wazi site has some other interesting comparisons, too, on databases and licenses.