On 7/14/05, Keith M Wesolowski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 14, 2005 at 11:47:26AM -0500, James Dickens wrote:
>
> > easy to symlink from a community location even if you have to have one
> > version for packages compiled with gcc and another that are compiled with
> > Sun Studio, 2 is still better 4 or 8.
>
> The alternative would be to declare as policy that all such software
> be built with the same compiler. That's simpler, but it restricts
> developer choice and in some cases might make it impractical to
> include some piece of nonportable software.
The Blastwave approach is simple really. The base OS to be supported
is Solaris 8 on x86 and Sparc. We rely on the backward compatibility
nature of Solaris to _ensure_ that software that works fine on Solaris
8 actually does work as expected on 9 and 10. This sometimes is not
the case and we have to resort to arcane testing and adhoc procedures
to work out a troublesome package like Scribus.
The compiler is to be Sun ONE Studio 8 and only recently have we gegun
to look at Sun ONE Studio 10. For obvious reasons when one considers
the AMD64 architecture not to mention the overall improvements in the
Sun ONE Studio 10 developer tool set.
GCC has been used in cases where the code is simply not at all
responsive to the Sun ONE Studio tools. KDE is a geat example and I
think that the work done by Stefan really is fantastic in this regard.
We can finally get KDE to build with the "standard" tools.
The concept with Blastwave was simple : ensure that the process was
open and that software for Solarisusers was built and maintained by
other Solaris users. Add in some quality control and mirror sites
with the pkg-add delivery mechanism and you have the makings of a nice
software project that everyone can use.
Here is something that I wrote a long time ago but it descibes the
project I think.
---------------- blastwave.org
What is Blastwave
by Dennis Clarke
The "blastwave.org" community concept and website were
created by the author in response to a perceived need by Solaris
users. The need was for publicly available open source software
that was maintained by members of the users community. This
entailed more than just access to software via ftp or web
download. This meant that access to the software maintenance
process would be open to members of the users community. The
needs of the Solaris user would be met by another Solaris user.
What was needed was an open facility that would allow users to
create the software packages for themselves. The "blastwave.org"
web site was created to respond to this need. Those needs are now
being met.
Software "maintainers" join the organization via open
invitation. Either we approach them or they approach us with a
need. In most cases the need is mutual and then the access to
the site is granted. The maintainer is then granted access to
"build servers" as well as the necessary storage on the central
"blastwave.org" NFS server. The maintainer is expected to
conform to software package standards and the resultant software
package is submitted for open review and testing by the members
of blastwave.org before public release. The software package
will be subject to review by the public and a bug reporting
process is in place for feedback. These bug reports are assigned
and then handled based on priority and severity.
The software, upon public release, is delivered to the
Solaris user by a number of "mirror sites" located around the
world. The end user is not expected to manually ftp or http
download a file, unpack and then install the software package as
well as all its dependencies. This is seen as an unreasonable
burden on the end user. The "pkg-get" software was written such
that the end user need know nothing other than the name of what
they need. A simple command line entry by the user will result
in the package being downloaded from a mirror site, checked for
dependencies, then all of these software dependencies will be
installed for the user. Most of the software packages will be
configured for the user by scripts written such that the end user
will be up and running instantly. The Apache web server package
is very popular for this reason. The software packages are
coordinated to work together, even across different maintainers.
Our collection of apache modules is a fine example of this. A
user can run a single pkg-get command, to install a working php
webserver with openssl support, in one pass. Additional apache
modules can easily be added via the pkg-get process. All the
software is created and packaged for the x86 and Sparc Solaris
user on a baseline release of Solaris 8. All the software
packages must be available for both x86 and Sparc before public
release. We review and test intermediate builds internally. The
software is expected to be available as a 64-bit solution
whenever it is possible to do so.
2. HISTORY
The "blastwave.org" site and build servers were born out of a
grassroots movement which had little in the way of resources. In
the beginning the maintainers list was no more than four people.
The initial web site was created in less than a day with an old
discarded Sun Ultra 1 server. The build servers were equally
impressive. There was a single Ultra 2 with 200MHz processors
and 256Mb of RAM. The x86 build server was a clone with 400MHz
Pentium processors and 512Mb of RAM. We were very thrilled when
the web server saw its first 1000 hits. That was the first
month.
As the word of our existence spread through the internet we
rapidly saw maintainers join, create software packages and then
respond to public bug reports with maintenance updates. We had
found that there were many bright and motivated Solaris users
that were happy to become the package maintainers for "their own
software". They took personal ownership and pride in what they
had built and were happy to defend its viability via maintenance
and cooperation. Our need for internet bandwidth was not seen as
a great issue as we seldom transfer large amounts of data. Then
after six months we had three mirror sites and some fifty or so
software packages for x86 and Sparc Solaris users. We had become
a community open source site for Solaris users. Then came
dramatic growth.
[ new paragraph here ]
By late 2004 we were able to measure some 8000 software package
ddownloads daily from one mirror server. There were about thirty mirrors.
The website saw explosive growth and was well over a quarter million
visitsper month. It seemed reasonable to assuem that the project was
successfully providing software for Solaris to users that wanted a single
unified source of libraries and dependencies. Certainly people wanted this
software to be available to them easily and feedback indicated that end users
were very happy indeed. Software package number 1000 was added in Q1
of 2005 with no slowdown in growth and the administration work required
to maintain the project was now well past a full time task.
3. THE PRIMARY PROJECTS
The initial intent of the "blastwave.org" site was to provide
Solaris users with equal access to open source software
regardless of the users choice of architecture. We now see
blastwave.org as an open source community site for Solaris users.
3.1 CSW - Community SoftWare
Every software package is to be current and to be
provided for the x86 and Sparc editions of Solaris. This is seen
as a firm mandate. The initial members of "blastwave.org"
debated on the base release to support and Solaris 8 was accepted
for various reasons. The most obvious was cost. Solaris 8 was
seen as being a very recent and affordable option for x86 users
and Sparc users alike. We also knew that software that ran well
on Solaris 8 would almost certainly run with the new Solaris 9
release. The Community Software ( "CSW" ) project was thus
begun. Initially the CSW project was the only real reason for
the organization to exist. Recent progress with Solaris 10 has
forced the addition of specialized Solaris 10 build servers. The
maintainers have all agreed that we shall use Solaris 8 as our
base operating release. We have also agreed that Solaris 10 is a
wonderful creation and that dedicated Solaris 10 build servers
are needed to support the AMD Opteron 64-bit architecture.
The simple creation of a software package which could
then be offered to the public via FTP or HTTP download was seen
as primitive. Debian Linux provides its users with the ability to
simply get software via a facility called "apt-get". This script
would allow the end user to simply type a command line and then
the software and all dependencies would be downloaded and
installed. We felt that this was a far more intelligent way to
proceed. Therefore the CSWpkgget tool was crafted by Philip
Brown. The end user could now select their software from a list
with the command "pkg-get -a". The user may install all that is
needed with "pkg-get -i softwarename". The most wonderful
facility is the ability to update software, all software, with a
very simple command "pkg-get -u". The last, and perhaps MOST
salient point, is that the CSW project provides rapid response to
the user community via software offerings, bug reports and fixes.
Users did not need to wait for months to gain access to latest
editions of software or for a bug report to be handled. The KDE
3.3.1 packages were created in less than eight days from the day
that the source was released. This rapid response ensures that we
may offer Solaris users the most up to date software before any
of the Linux distributions. We refer to this speed as "internet
time". Critical bugs will be fixed within days. The CSW
packages for Openssh and Openssl are popular for this reason.
The CSW project has core maintainers and software
projects. The admin and owner Dennis Clarke is responsible for
all infrastructure that is required by the project. Philip Brown
is the maintainer of the core foundation software offerings as
well as the primary creator of our standards for packaging and
naming. We have a dozen members that are involved in almost
every large software build at various levels. The process of
creating a large package such as KDE, GCC or GNOME needs input
from a number of people to ensure a quality product. There are
another ninety members that become involved as required or
requested for their own software packages. A number of software
engineers from Sun are now maintainers also and this has allowed
for a gentle merger of the community programmers with internal
Sun developers. There is a wonderful cooperation and team effort
by Solaris Community members and Sun Microsystems people.
3.2 Solaris 10 and Solaris Express
Each and every package that is created within the CSW
project will be expected to run within Solaris 10. This
expectation clearly requires software testing with the most
recent build of Solaris 10. Therefore separate Solaris 10 servers
have been required for testing by the maintainers. We feel that
Solaris 10 build servers for each supported architecture is
absolutely required as the Solaris 10 release will force the
demand upon us. The team effort between Sun and the Solaris
Community is very powerful. Sun has donated AMD Opteron hardware
as well as UltraSparc III servers to ensure that Blastwave can
create and deliver software to all Solaris users.
-------------------
The story is not complete as I now have the PowerPC port project to
add into the mix and also I feel that users should have access to test
hardware via console access. Let's suppose that someone needs to
completely build and then BFU an OpenSolaris build but they do not
have access to the hardware? I have long wanted to build an
OpenSolaris GRID and I sent in a proposal on such a structure to
Stephen Harpster months ago. The idea was simple really, give people
access to what they need and create a low barrier to entry. Help
them. Let them completely netboot a server from a jumpstart server
and then build OpenSolaris and let them do what they want. The only
matter left would be to manage the resouces. Something that I have
been doingfor some three years now.
I personally feel that this does not need to be torn down and thrown
away in order to move forward. I'd like to believe that it can be
expanded and then grown with other features such that Solaris users
and OpenSolaris project members can get what they need, built it, test
it, play with it, work with others and then roll it out without ever
leaving their chair.
At least that is my vision.
Dennis Clarke
Director and Admin for blastwave.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ps: I can generally be found at irc://irc.blastwave.org/blastwave
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