The Future of NetBSD

ErisCalmsme writes "In this email Charles Hannum (one of the founders of NetBSD) tells us that 'The NetBSD Project has stagnated to the point of irrelevance. It has gotten to the point that being associated with the project is often more of a liability than an asset. I will attempt to explain how this happened, what the current state of affairs is, and what needs to be done to attempt to fix the situation.' What will happen to NetBSD?"

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OpenBSD vs NetBSD vs Linux

[Doc Ruby]

If the other NetBSD founder, Theo de Raadt, hadn't retaliated for being forced out of the project by suing and otherwise interfering with the project in 1994, NetBSD would be the "Linux" we're all talking about today. The biggest turning point in the Linux rise was when Slackware delivered thousands of nearly-free working Linux installer CDs which could be freely redistributed. Right when NetBSD was technically superior (including more architectures and a package installer system), but blocked by de Raadt.

If de Raadt had stayed in the project, providing the strong leadership that pushed his OpenBSD project to eclipse NetBSD, then maybe the 1994-5 years would have seen NetBSD keep the momentum (and developers) it lost to Linux, right when the Dotcom Bubble threw so much gas on the fire. NetBSD might now be where Linux will arrive only a few years from now.

The project failure that threw de Raadt out and left NetBSD vulnerable to his retaliation is the central lesson for similar FOSS projects. Now that the dust has cleared a great deal, I'd like to see an honest dissection of the relevant project management issues that underlaid the mutually destructive split.