Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:18:58 +0100 From: Max Laier <max@love2party.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Albert Meyburgh <ameyburgh@gmail.com> Subject: Re: monolithic Message-ID: <200711130819.09271.max@love2party.net> In-Reply-To: <35f053b10711122236t7ce754eew69dd55144d5a144f@mail.gmail.com> References: <35f053b10711122236t7ce754eew69dd55144d5a144f@mail.gmail.com>
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--nextPart3916165.6uFiMNN0AU Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline =46irst off - freebsd-arch@ is not the right mailing list to ask these kind= =20 of basic questions. Plus, I'm hoping this is not a course work for you=20 CS class! On Tuesday 13 November 2007, Albert Meyburgh wrote: > I read that freebsd is monolithic. Is that still true? Yes in that it is not based on a "micro kernel" and that the kernel and=20 all it's services and drivers are running in one address space. > If I wanted to add functionality like device drivers, or maybe my own > tcp/ip stack, (or maybe add the facility to allow modules) do I have > to download the entire source and add it in there? That depends on the type of thing you want to do. FreeBSD offers a lot of= =20 entry points to hook in your code as needed. Device drivers can=20 absolutely be standalone modules (there are a few in the ports tree (e.g.=20 the nvidia one)). Your own TCP/IP stack is more tricky, but you could=20 use the netgraph(3) framework to hook that at runtime, too. > nothing available like a kernel module in linux? (which afaik you can > attach at runtime) Yes, kernel modules are available and can be attached at runtime=20 (depending on what they are doing). This doesn't make the kernel=20 non-monolithic, though. > also when I add packages using the ports system, then remove them, are > they completely gone or are there still random conf files / misc.. > laying around slowly bloating the hdd We try to make sure this does not happen. During the package build the=20 buildcluster checks for files that are not accounted for and issues a=20 warning to the maintainer. The strict rule of putting all 3rd party=20 programs under either /usr/local or /compat also helps to keep the mess=20 to a minimum. > also is there a way to scan for unused packages somehow and list them There is a tool called pkg_cutleaves in the ports tree that will show you=20 all ports that are not used by any other ports and lets you decide if you=20 want to keep them or not. There might be other solutions, too. =2D-=20 /"\ Best regards, | mlaier@freebsd.org \ / Max Laier | ICQ #67774661 X http://pf4freebsd.love2party.net/ | mlaier@EFnet / \ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Against HTML Mail and News --nextPart3916165.6uFiMNN0AU Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQBHOU/tXyyEoT62BG0RAlHBAJwMjP9g/53+nV0w+srFTWd4zAqOygCfUiC6 SQwgGDcqVOlI6WMaT+gkJng= =qpLX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart3916165.6uFiMNN0AU--
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