Slashdot Mirror
New Scheduler Available for FreeBSD
flynn_nrg writes "Luigi Rizzo, one of the FreeBSD developers, has just finished the code for a new scheduler. From the announcement: '...as promised, a first version of the Proportional Share scheduler that we developed is available here. These are for a recent -STABLE (i think any version from 4.4 should work; the only 3 files modified are kern_synch.c, kern_switch.c and
proc.h, plus a one-line change to kern_exit.c).
I have tested it a little bit on a diskless system, and it seems to survive running a full X session with the usual set of xterm,
netscape etc. while i do a "renice" of the processes and even switch back and forth between schedulers. But do not trust this yet for a
production system!'
Read the full post here."
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It's when you get distracted by the politickers that they sideline you. The tireless work that you perform keeping the system clean and building is what provides the platform for the obsessives and the prima donnas to have their moments in the sun. In the end, we need you all; in order to go forwards we must first avoid going backwards.
To the paranoid conspiracy theorists - yes, I work for Apple too. No, my resignation wasn't on Steve's direct orders, or in any way related to work I'm doing, may do, may not do, or indeed what was in the tea I had at lunchtime today. It's about real problems that the project faces, real problems that the project has brought upon itself. You can't escape them by inventing excuses about outside influence, the problem stems from within.
To the politically obsessed - give it a break, if you can. No, the project isn't a lemonade stand anymore, but it's not a world-spanning corporate juggernaut either and some of the more grandiose visions going around are in need of a solid dose of reality. Keep it simple, stupid.
To the grandstanders, the prima donnas, and anyone that thinks that they can hold the project to ransom for their own agenda - give it a break, if you can. When the current core were elected, we took a conscious stand against vigorous sanctions, and some of you have exploited that. A new core is going to have to decide whether to repeat this mistake or get tough. I hope they learn from our errors.
Future
I started work on FreeBSD because it was fun. If I'm going to continue, it has to be fun again. There are things I still feel obligated to do, and with any luck I'll find the time to meet those obligations.
However I don't feel an obligation to get involved in the political mess the project is in right now. I tried, I burnt out. I don't feel that my efforts were worthwhile. So I won't be standing for election, I won't be shouting from the sidelines, and I probably won't vote in the next round of ballots.
You could say I'm packing up my toys. I'm not going home just yet, but I'm not going to play unless you can work out how to make the project somewhere fun to be again.
= Mike
--
what the hell happenned to developing SMP and UP capable schedulers ? or does BSD expect to run well on only UP systems ?
Why does this get on the main page, and why does the new Core Team does not?
:)
Either way, FreeBSD does fit the new trend now... more VM's means more freedom
Anybody have any idea when/if Apple will integrate improvements from this scheduler in to Darwin/OSX?
a 0(1) scheduler's overhead will not significantly increase.
The term you are looking for is probably O(n), but definatly not O(1). O(1) will not increase at all, no matter how much data is put in. O(n) will increase linearly.
Lawrence Lessig is my personal hero.
"With FreeBSD, for years, admins have been able to set certain files as "append only" (so even root can only add to, not remove from, log files) and "immutable" (so even root cannot modify or delete the file) and has been able to set firewall rules to the same (immutable) so that creative crackers can't add their personal favorites if they root the system."
Linux can do that too. That is, if you use ext2 or ext3. See chattr(1), options a (append only) and s (secure deletion).
Right now I've got four systems running Linux (RH-7.3 and 7.2) and one system running FreeBSD 4.6. At times in the past I've run OpenBSD and NetBSD as well.
I can tell you firsthand that in terms of system stability that Linux and FreeBSD are comparable if not indistinguishable. FreeBSD does seem to be more efficient however. The pentium 200 that I have FreeBSD on loads up KDE 3.0 noticably faster than Redhat 7.2 did, and once loaded it is more responsive. On older hardware FreeBSD definitely seems to have an advantage. I consider FreeBSD to be a very fast and well designed operating system. I keep trying to find places where using it instead of Linux would be an advantage.
Not everything about it is all that rosey however. The features and abilities that Linux provides but FreeBSD lacks such as SMP, kernel pre-emption, fast journaling filesystems, certain commerical software packages, 3D acclerated X servers, and generally better device support, make actually using FreeBSD as anything but an interesting toy kind of difficult to justify in many situations.
I worry about FreeBSD. I'd love to see it grow and progress not as a competitor to Linux, but as something of a companion to it. So many people just don't seem to realize that open source isn't about operating systems alone. What Linux and FreeBSD do is provide a foundation, they aren't the whole house. Both provide a powerful and stable platform for running the actual programs that people want to use in the first place. The future of open source development is going to be 90% apps and userland and 10% OS. To have religious and political wars over the OS portion is immature and counterproductive. Linux and FreeBSD aren't genuine competitors from an economic standpoint because it is the applications that both run that make either compelling in the first place.
I want BOTH Linux and FreeBSD to do well, to grow and expand and be the best operating systems anyone has ever seen. I detest the infantile immaturity of those who seek to create division and conflict between FreeBSD and Linux that simply shouldn't be there. I've gotten flames from FreeBSD "advocates" in particular filled with such hatred and obvious zealousness that you'd think they were Mac freaks, all because I described FreeBSD in terms that weren't favorable enough for their religious views. The Linux crowd is full of just as many jackasses, if not more.
Computer enthusiasts are known for generally having high IQ's. Unfortunately our reputation for having low EQ's is equally well earned. There are far too many borderline autistics and asperger's sufferers among us with severely retarded social skills. That is really the only explanation I can come up with when grown men with extensive vocabularies use them to throw a fit on par with that of an eight year old.
Anyway I'm drifting way off from what I wanted to write about. The point that I really want to make is that BOTH Linux and FreeBSD are absolutely fabulous operating systems (save the linux is just a kernel messages for church). The goals and vision behind each are so similar that any ill will between them is manufactured by immature, short sighted assholes. Microsoft is the enemy, not those who prefer another free Unix derivative that runs Mozilla, gnome, kde, etc just as well if not better than what someone else is using.
Lee
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.