Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 02:04:15 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Hiten Pandya <hitmaster2k@yahoo.com> Cc: grog@FreeBSD.org, chat@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: IBM suing (was: RMS Suing was [SUGGESTION] - JFS for FreeBSD) Message-ID: <3C187D1F.24D8E4D2@mindspring.com> References: <20011213093555.76629.qmail@web21107.mail.yahoo.com>
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Hiten Pandya wrote: > > hi, > > (to -Terry) > however, as you were saying that you would a JFS > compatible code from scratch then porting their > code to FreeBSD, if given the permission, would you > do it... practically, it takes up a lot of effort to > write the JFS code, I would say if you go and read the > JFS code, and start out with the binary trees, you > will know that we will not be able to write JFS compatible > code by our gold release (5.0), and this and other > filesystems would be a major change not a minor one. Hi; I wrote my first UNIX FS code in 1985, 16 years ago. I don't think it is as hard as you seem to think it is, particularly since someone has already done all the hard work of laying out working on disk structures for you, and you could have someone create FS images for you to test with, all without looking a a line of code that would render you "contaminated". > It is better to port JFS then re-inventing the wheel, > and we will get a lot of help from outsiders. Go ahead and do the port. > As there has been discussion about this at freebsd-fs > mailing list also. The reason i started this > discuss if starting out this project would be good > or not - from a technical point of view, and not from > a political point of view about IBM. Forgive me for > my bluntness but no offense. Forgive me for my bluntness, but: if you want to do the port, then do the port. In my opinion, it's likely that it will be distributed with the first release of FreeBSD that comes out after your port. Just don't expect FreeBSD to be able to install using it as the base FS type, when installed from CDROM, and so don't expect that a huge number of people will use it. That's just my opinion. Don't let my having it stop you from writing the code. If your goal is to have a generally deployed JFS capability, then I think a port of the GPL'ed JFS code is a waste of effort, for the reasons I have already outlined. If your goal is to just have some fun, and learn a little bit about kernel programming and file systems, then it will be time well spent. It will certianly help any future career you have as a programmer to be able to put it on your resume. > As i have also said, porting a thing massive as JFS > would be hard for me alone, and i need help from > fellow FreeBSD developers. I think you can find your volunteers, but they are going to be more junior level people, like yourself, or people who want to build their resume in the FS area. The general philosophy of FreeBSD is that the code should be usable by anyone, for any reason they see fit to use it, so the JFS code will always be a side project, because of the license. All of this was discussed to death before in FreeBSD-FS. If you want to do it, then stop talking about it and start doing it; what volunteers are possible will show up on your doorstep. I suggest using one of the following to get started: http://sourceforge.net/ http://www.collab.net/ -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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