Apple Releases Darwin 6.7, 6.8

PowerMacDaddy writes "In an ongoing effort to keep the FreeBSD core of OS X open source, Apple has updated Darwin to 6.7 and 6.8, which corresponds to the OS X 10.2.7 and 10.2.8 updates, respectively. Source code is available."

Comments

Question

[Znonymous Coward]

Is Darwin better than *BSD?

Re:Question

[altp]

Is Knoppix better than Redhat?

I think the question should be more about what you need rather than which is better.

Altp.

Re:Question

[Elwood P Dowd]

Is Darwin better than *BSD?

No. It's just a little different. It uses a different kernel. It has a different architecture for device drivers. It uses a NetInfo to store various configuration information.

It doesn't have FreeBSD Ports (a simple way for users and administrators to install applications). It's got it's own thing instead, which isn't as good (yet).

The reason I'd use BSD is for FreeBSD Ports, so I think the folks using Darwin are mostly just doing it since no one else is, and it's geeky.

It also makes sense if you're primarily interested in administering a MacOS X network, but I don't see why you wouldn't spend the cash on Mac OS X Server.

Re:Question

[geggibus]

It uses lookupd, which uses a set of software "agents" to get informations. There are agents for NetInfo, NIS, DNS, the files in /etc (Flatfiles), LDAP and internal cache agent.

NetInfo is usually the first place to look for things(after the cache..)

(if i understand this correctly)

Re:Question

[hraefn]

It also makes sense if you're primarily interested in administering a MacOS X network, but I don't see why you wouldn't spend the cash on Mac OS X Server.

It makes sense if you have an old PC lying around...

Re:Question

[mtalbot]

BSD Ports for Mac OS X (and Darwin) can be found here: http://www.opendarwin.org/projects/darwinports/

10.2.8

[nocomment]

But, will your ethernet stop working if you use it?

Re:10.2.8

[wonkamaster]

But, will your ethernet stop working if you use it?

That explains the lack of comments!

Re:10.2.8

[Paradise Pete]

I thought the whole purpose of the darwin project was to get most of their OS developed at no cost. Then they can sell it back to the people who wrote it for them.

Well if they wrote it for them, then they'd already have it. And have the right to do whatever they wanted with it, including the parts Apple wrote. I don't quite see why this is bad. Perhaps you could elaborate.

10.2.8

[GoRK]

Perhaps they are trying to get the public to fix the 10.2.8 problems that led them to pulling the upgrade :)

Not exactly news

[babbage]

The recent botched 10.2.8 updated included a kernel upgrade, from Darwin 6.6 to Darwin 6.8. So while the news here is that the kernel update is, apparently, available as an independent download, the question remains whether or not this kernel release had anything to do with the problems people are having with 10.2.8.

Obviously there have been questions about the updated ethernet drivers, but because so many things changed with the 10.2.8 release, and because the bug reports have been so varied, it's hard to know if the new kernel is buggy, and it's easy to suspect that the ethernet driver may not have been the only component at fault.

It's nice to see that Slashdot has picked up a story that MacSlash ran a day or two ago, but I for one am more interested in hearing about a fix for the damage that 10.2.8 brought with it for many people. When are we going to get a patch for that?

re: not exactly news

[dwightk]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the kernel... I did the update, and everything works fine... it sounds like some kernel extensions were messed up...

Already Upgraded

[billatq]

I've already checked out the source and updated to the new kernel and it seems to run fine (I wanted to apply the nosleep patch on the KisMac web page so that I can run it with the lid closed for short periods of time). Of course, I have an iBook, so I'm probably not affected by the ethernet problem screwing up some of the other models. I'm happy that nothing like Cisco VPN magically became broken in this release also.

In other news...

[ZackSchil]

Darwin 6.8 sequesters all available computing power and peripherals, sets fire to your house, kills you and you family, and on certain machines disables the ethernet port. Users in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned flaws.

Re:Does not compute.

[FredFnord]

> So, when they don't update it, it would become closed somehow? I don't get it.

When they don't update darwin to match the updates in MacOS X, the FreeBSD core of (the current release of) MacOS X isn't open source.

Even for an annoying nitpicker like me, that was a perfectly reasonable sentence.

-fred

Re:Friends??

[piecewise]

Just so you're aware -- which you're apparently not -- Apple is a section of Slash. apple.slashdot.org. Therefore, here, you'll read a lot about Apple - something you don't seem too interested in.

It's very newsworthy among the Unix/apple community that Darwin's been changed.

If you're interested in Domino and ORacle AS, there are appropriate places to go for that.

Thanks.

Following Darwin

[jollygreengiantlikes]

Has anyone been following the source's development closely-eg: what updates beyond the security fixes were included in the kernel?
There had purportedly been a memory leak in 10.2.6 (corresponding to Darwin 6.6)-any confirmation of that or a possible fix in these lastest versions of Darwin?

JGG

Re:What ticks me off.

[StarmanDeluxe]

That might be because you have to compile it first, using a compiler that will work with PowerPC code (easiest way, of course, is to compile on a mac). *coughdoltcough*

Re:Lookupd slowness

[geggibus]

This might help you..

lookupd -configuration (shows current config)
lookupd -d (interactive mode)
man lookupd (No comments.. ;)

The lookupd config files/netinfo data does not exist(?) afaik. So you will have to create them yourself in order to change the lookup order.

Re:Lookupd slowness

[sld126]

Make sure forward & reverse DNS are working correctly. If not, this will cause OS X to pause, I guess while it considers its options.

Re:I HATE MACS

[OsamaBinLogin]

RTFM.

I recently opened up my TiBook to check out the AirPort card. The instructions (which you obviously didn't read) were still kicking around from last year when I installed it. Nice drawings, good tech artists.

Turn upside down. You remove the battery and 8 screws. Do not remove the keyboard or any drives. One small philips screwdriver should do it. Slide case, and off. Then it's right there, next to the battery well - a dedicated PCMCIA slot next to the real PCMCIA slot. You plug it in, connect the antenna connector, and that's it.

Then you boot up and it's working off the shelf, no config, no messing around, integrated into the OS, better than IE is integrated into Windows. :-) And you can stick your laptop into your backpack without snapping off the antenna, cuz it's wrapped around the display. (Truth be known, reception is weak that way. Need an antenna plug, that's what it needs.)

I could see that, if you removed the optical and hard disks, and snipped and filed away at stuff, you'd be pissed. For myself, I swore off doing installs while wasted, specifically for that reason.