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Updated FreeBSD Release Schedule

Posted by Hemos on from the for-the-world-at-large dept.

Serin K Medusa writes: "The folks over at FreeBSD.org have put up a new 'roadmap' detailing the plan of action for the remainder of the year. In particular, check out the plans for a 5.0 preview and expected dates for 4.6. Interesting reading if you're following -CURRENT."

12 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. Well planned release by lamj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems to me that FreeBSD is more well planned than Linux in terms of project management(This is not Linux bashing). When a development project gets bigger, it takes a lot more planning as a group effort than one man's decision, there maybe something for Linux development team to learn. I agree that it is hard to find the balance because most of us like Linux for some advanced new feature but there's got to be better planning and announcement system to let user know what to expect.
    I would really appreciate if Linux kernel set stable checkpoint to indicate "This is a stable kernel" instead of 2.4 series trial and error approach.

    1. Re:Well planned release by ksb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh well, it won't be the first time a better OS has lost (think VMS)

      I think this article should really show that it's certainly not time to write off Freebsd...

    2. Re:Well planned release by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, Linux is a kernel and FreeBSD is a whole OS. You should compare it to one of the distros.

    3. Re:Well planned release by swb · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is no smbclient or smbmount, so you can't even think of doing that.

      $ uname -sr
      FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE
      $ man mount_smbfs

      MOUNT_SMBFS(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual MOUNT_SMBFS(8)

      NAME
      mount_smbfs       - mounts a shared resource from an SMB file server

      It was added to the system in the past year.

    4. Re:Well planned release by Metrol · · Score: 5, Informative

      I switched from FreeBSD back to RedHat

      Funny, I switched from RedHat to FreeBSD due to a seemingly endless line of RPM dependancy issues, config files that seem to defy all logic, and a directory structure that feels like your totally lost in a video game maze.

      but some packages are still "broke" because of the way that FreeBSD is.

      276 packages installed here on my primary workstation. Full implementation of Samba, KDE, Gnome, Apache, MySQL, and lots and lots of other stuff. Each and every package in there is working as expected. Oh, and when one of those packages comes out with a new version...

      portupgrade samba

      ...and it just handles ALL the rest. No subscription fees to RedHat to get access to a non-sucky FTP server.

      (For example, the SMBD package doesn't work as a domain controller because you can't have a dollar sign in a user name in freebsd.

      Umm, why would you want a dollar sign in the user name?? When doing NT style networking you place the dollar sign in the share name, which works just peachy.

      There is no smbclient or smbmount, so you can't even think of doing that.)

      SMB support is right in the kernel! Yes, smbmount exists natively in FreeBSD. smbclient isn't native, as it's a part of the Samba package. As it should be I might add.

      It's a pretty good and fast operating system, but I've switched back to the more popular one for more features and support.

      Probably for the best. Either you haven't used FreeBSD in the last 2-3 years, or you didn't properly research the subjects you were having troubles with.

      --
      The line must be drawn here. This far. No further.
    5. Re:Well planned release by SurfsUp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Funny, I switched from RedHat to FreeBSD due to a seemingly endless line of RPM dependancy issues, config files that seem to defy all logic, and a directory structure that feels like your totally lost in a video game maze.

      It sounds like you really needed to try Debian.

      --
      Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
  2. 5.0 is a pretty big change. by jon_c · · Score: 5, Informative
    in case anyone cares the goals for 5.0 are:

    SMPng - fully threaded, preemptable and re-entrant kernel with interrupt handlers running as threads. More than one CPU can run in the kernel simultaneously.

    devfs - fully dynamic device creation and tear-down (for things like PCCARD and USB).

    Geom - stackable disk model (http://www.freebsd.org/~phk/Geom)

    Newcard - New PCCARD/CARDBUS subsystem with much better support for newer hardware (like CARDBUS) and integration with FreeBSD's newbus driver API.

    gcc 3.0 - Upgrade to latest compiler technology

    source

    --
    this is my sig.
  3. ...and it shows. by pschmied · · Score: 5, Interesting
    FreeBSD feels like a real quality product. The installer, and the overall level of "spit shine" is better than I've seen anywhere else (Windows, Solaris, Linux, QNX).

    The packages/ports collection rocks. Software works as documented. Documentation exists.

    I can't wait to see all the goodies planned for FreeBSD-5.

    Anyone who is interested in UNIX should check it out. It is one of the very "cleanest" implimentations out there, and it also happens to perform quite well.

    Go ahead download the .iso (or buy from Daemon News). The install doesn't take long (6 minutes boot to finish on my 1.0ghz Athlon).


    -Peter

    --
    . Penguins Surely Ca
  4. It's Interesting to Me... by Neovanglist · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's interesting to me how you can think FreeBSD is dying when several major things have happened on the FreeBSD front.

    1)FreeBSD released FreeBSD-4.5 RELEASE just not to long ago, and it has full Java support.

    2)FreeBSD is getting new applications ported to it every day. (Note: XFree86 4.2.0 now has FreeBSD binaries available, check XFree86.org)

    3)FreeBSD was a good enough OS to have Apple base their new flagship OS (MacOSX) on it. (I don't see them planning to make a Linux based MacOS)

    4)FreeBSD's TCP/IP stack was good enough for Microsoft to steal and put in Win2k/XP

    With all this said, and the new release schedule, how in the world can you call it dead?

    Regards,
    Neovanglist

    1. Re:It's Interesting to Me... by PhotoGuy · · Score: 5, Interesting
      3)FreeBSD was a good enough OS to have Apple base their new flagship OS (MacOSX) on it. (I don't see them planning to make a Linux based MacOS)
      I think this has a lot more to do with the licensing. No commercial vendor in their right mind would base their custom OS with value-added proprietary extensions, upon an OS that places such heavy dependencies upon the GPL license. (The term GNU/Linux just makes me shudder.)

      The FreeBSD license doesn't preclude commercialization, which makes it far, far, far, more appealing for putting on commercial users' desktops.

      Of course, the rock solid stability, better planned releases, centralized control, yadda, yadda, yadda, are no doubt factors that made it more appealing than Linux as a base. But even if those things were all equal, the GPL alone would have prevented Apple from basing OS X upon Linux.

      Similarly, I'm working on two projects that will be commercialized; I'm using FreeBSD as the base, and sleeping well knowing that I won't have any licensing grief down the road. Linux and it's supporting utilities are just too fraught with GPL restrictions; if the core technology of Linux were leaps and bounds above FreeBSD, it would be more of a dilemma. But in terms of the kernel and core utilities, they really are neck and neck. I make my living creating this value-added code, I can't afford to give the source away for my modifications or extensions, and live off of services or whatever. (And the zealots will no doubt scream "if you don't like the GPL, don't use software that uses it!" Well, despite the kneejerk reaction that might be, that's exactly the right advice in my case, I'll use FreeBSD.)

      I do think it's a shame for Linux, though. If Linux didn't have this restriction, and had four or five offshoots of commercialization, I think it'd be taken a lot more seriously on the desktop. With the release of OS/X, BSD really did leapfrog Linux in terms of popular acceptance on the desktop. Linux might have been the beneficiary of this, if it were more BSD-like in its licensing. And FreeBSD seem to be gaining even more momentum every day.

      In any case, choice is good. I love Linux, but I choose BSD. :-)

      -me
      --
      Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
  5. Please Ask Yourself This by Neovanglist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a question of this community. I remember back in the days when conversations would be carried out over BBS forums/newsgroups. What I remembered of those "old-school" programming/networking communities was a group of people who were always ready to help, and who were always ready to encourage someone in whatever they set out to do. I have a hard time understanding how this community turned into something as bitter and close-minded as what it is now. It seems that there are only a handful of people left out there that still have the original focus of what created this community.

    I do not understand how this bitter *BSD vs. *Linux war started. One side blames the other, and vice-versa. The result is a spiral toward a completely destroyed community. You may ask yourself "Well what is in being nice and helpful for me" the answer is, if this trend continues and expands itself onto others like it has as of recent, there will be no more community. That means that once again the computer world will be dominated by companies who are out for nothing but money, and as a direct result, you will suffer from it. Even with corporations like Sun Microsystems, who are big supporters of this community, if the community turns south, it will start to hurt them as well, resulting in them ceasing involvement with it.

    As much as you all say *BSD is dead, you do nothing but complain about how it is dead, and why nobody should focus on it any more. Wouldn't someone truly in the spirit of open-source do what they could, or contribute to *BSD in some way to help it? You must all see that the reason any OS will fail is because of a lack of support from a community. Even Windows would disappear off the face of the earth should no person want to use it or support it. I do not believe that *BSD is dead, but with respect to those who do, please answer my question. Why do you continue to say this without making a effot to help? The only reasons I can find is that it is either easier for you to just complain and do nothing, or you vent personal frustration on it thus making yourself feel better at the expense of others. Both are acceptable, but there are other answers that would benefit the community as a whole as well.

    This community greatly reminds me of a failed Communist government. It started with intentions to make everyone equal, and make everything available to everyone on the terms that some people would give to the community as well as take. But this proves that history repeats itself, even on a medium such as the Internet. It would seem to me that once again a Communist government has failed because of one thing. Money. Greed from corporation's, people's frustration from it, and a mixed, and cut-throat atmosphere have destroyed it. The people are becoming bitter, and taking harsh sides, (Note the way people acted during the Russian/Soviet revolutions, because the community activity matches up quite well with what we see here) and making bitter enemies.

    As much as it would seem, that all hope is lost, it is not. With cooperation of this community, and a re-focus of what we all try to stand for, we can rebuild it into something far greater, and something remarkable that can leave it's positive mark on the world for future generations to behold.

    Please, join me and join all of us who want to make this community great, and voice your thoughts on what this should become. Lets build toward a future, not destroy it. I am going to call this emotion of mine the "Open-source Manifesto" and hope that one day the world will share it for the good of not only the Internet, but the people that love it so.

    Regards,
    Chris Gilbert

  6. BSD is DEAD? by sofawarrior · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I guess the "BSD is DEAD" boneheads do not manage servers on the net.. Can you say STABLE.. SECURE, UPTIME? As for support? -- Rackspace offers FreeBSD on Dedicated servers with 24x7 Support.. Hmm I have never called them for support on my machines.. wonder why? Isn't Hotmail still "stuck" with BSD on the backend? I remember an article on the WALNUT CREEK ftp server, serving more ftp users daily (over a terrabyte of data) on a single Pentuim Pro than the entire MS FTP Farm (700 GB)... Hmm I recently remember having to change out 3 Linux boxes to FreeBSD because the Linux boxes choked on 160K mail messages per hour. Hmm have not recieved an alarm on the FreeBsd boxes in six months.. I wonder if my pager is broken?