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FreeBSD 4.9 RC2 Available
Dan writes "FreeBSD Release Eng. Team's Murray Stokely says that the FreeBSD team has resolved many of the issues brought up with the first release candidate and made FreeBSD RC2 ISO available for testing. They are especially interested in hearing from people who can deploy this on heavily loaded systems."
...what use is a release client when freebsd is...dying? FP
Basically they're looking for people to deploy a RC on a somewhat missioncritical system (definition being heavy-loaded system?)
Sounds scary...
Oh, boy, the new version is available at last! Do we have to contact the gravedigger's union and pay them to digt up its corpse? or can we do it ourselves?
This halloween, I'm going to the Geeks Masquerade Ball dressed as *BSD.
Costumes of the dead are popular this year.
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. E. Tufte
[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
It is common knowledge that *BSD is dying, that ever hapless *BSD is mired in an irrecoverable and mortifying tangle of fatal trouble. It is perhaps anybody's guess as to which *BSD is the worst off of an admittedly suffering *BSD community. The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of BSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major marketing surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among hobbyist dilettante dabblers. In truth, for all practical purposes *BSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking.
Fact: *BSD is dying
Free BSD ships with a toe tag, not a release tag!
I can't remember, does the C stand for casket or coffin? I always forget.
Click on this image link click here to see the ideal case mod for a system to run your *BSD on.
This one is the cadaver release.
I was logged on in the lab in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my FreeBSD from his disc began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise
He did the mash
He did the *BSD mash
The *BSD mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the *BSD mash
You losers wouldn't know a great OS if a monopoly shoved it down your throat. Linux is for faggots, queers, commies and people who fuck their mothers, sisters and dogs. FreeBSD is the only *NIX OS even worth considering. Here's to Murray pounding that worthless little piece of shit Linus in his ass over and over again, like the little bitch he is. You fucking commie queers. Get a life. Just because an OS is beyond your technical expertise doesn't mean you need to spread lies about it. Go back to school and learn instead of getting frustrated and spreading FUD, code-commie cocksucking ass pumping jizz drinking faggot Linux users.
yes I am running it on my dinky little
dual PII-300Mhz server @ home..
[jason@beast]$ uname -a
FreeBSD beast 4.9-RC FreeBSD 4.9-RC #0: Wed Oct 1 07:24:43 EDT 2003 jason@beast:/space/obj/usr/src/sys/BEAST i386