On Wed, Jul 14, 1999 at 04:20:04PM -0700, Brent Fulgham wrote:
> >
> > What happened to this list? Seems like the entire
> > discussion ended in
> > one usec...
> >
> > gary
>
> Sorry Gary. I'm here, just busy on other things today.
Okay; good to know that everything didn't abruptly <B>stop</B>.
My next follow-up note was to ask the few of us who wanted
to present a plan. Plan, outline of a plan; even a whisper
of an outline.
>
> I think we concluded that there were three alternatives that
> we might pursue, none of which are mutually exclusive:
>
> 1. A Debian BSD-Kernel package (+necessary infrastructure)
> Level of Effort: Low, due to BSD's Linux compatibility layer
>
> 2. Port some of Debian's User tools to the BSD platform:
> (E.g., dpkg, apt, etc.)
> Level of Effort: Moderate. Some ports already exist, but
> there are sure to be many unforseen porting issues.
>
> 3. Porting the entire Debian distribution to BSD:
> Level of Effort: Extreme. Many person-months of effort.
I think that #1 and #2 will give us the best mix. Steve
mentioned that a FreeBSD "port" of dpkg was nearly complete,
and whatever else drops-in (or nearly) would be good, too.
For example, there are some GNU utils that are just a bit
fancier (and perhaps useful) that would build if the
configure tool picked the GNU libs.
#2 can be a background effort; whoever has a few hours a
month to port over a few misc Debian tools could do it.
In other words, I see this as being ~80% #1, and the rest
#2.
There is no timeline; no deadline. This can remain primarily
an experiment until we've got a sustaining momentum.
>
> Now, I have a few BSD-Linux compatibility questions:
> (1) If I have a Linux-compatible BSD kernel, can I run BSD and Linux
> binaries simultaneously? I assume you must be able to, because I might
> have a BSD Apache running in the background while I play Linux-Quake.
> (2) Are there any Linux Binaries you are aware of that do not work with
> BSD?
As far as I know everything works harmonously. I can run the
Linux xwp and any BSD binary. I can, and I do, :-)
Only the drivers and whatever other kernel-side code there
may be doesn't work with the BSD kernel. I have 0.0 idea
what's involving in rewriting a Linux driver for the BSD
kernel; my best SWAG is that it wouldn't be that hard.
> I mean, why not just run a BSD kernel in the middle of a Debian distribution
> and call it a day? Why the need to port the Linux user space?
Let me answer that with a question: What programs does Linux
have the BSD doesn't? And vice-versa? ((Not drivers, &c.))
I've seen several (fewer than 20, I think) GNU utilities that
just-worked on my SunOS-4.1 at work. There are probably
unknown, un-realized opportunities for cross-pollination here.
No, nothing was that earthshaking that I can name anything... .
> (3) If we ported Debian's packaging tools to BSD, how would you want this
> integrated with the rest of the environment? Should all Linux binaries go
> in their own directory someplace? Should they go right in alongside the
> other binaries?
Steve Price is the ports wizard. My bias is to integrate
everything the way they are on the Debian distribution.
Or in /usr/local/* if that makes sense.
> (4) Would BSD users want to use dpkg just to install Linux binaries? Or
> would the idea be to eventually just use dpkg for BSD binary distribution
> as well? (It's interesting to note that there has been some discussion in
> Debian to provide for source downloads via dpkg with local compile -- this
> would be especially useful in the case of software that would benefit from
> a hardware-specific compile).
>
I think for both installations. Note that I like to have the
source for anything on my system, so if the Debian packaging
system can do this--fetch the src and build and install, then
marvelous.
This is another Steve question....
> Thats all I can think of for now.
>
Good 'nuff; looks like we've posed some good initial questions.
gary
>
>
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--
Gary D. Kline [EMAIL PROTECTED] Public service Unix
