From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 24 19:15:39 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 12E0116A41C for ; Tue, 24 May 2005 19:15:39 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Received: from pooker.samsco.org (pooker.samsco.org [168.103.85.57]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A976F43D1F for ; Tue, 24 May 2005 19:15:35 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Received: from [192.168.254.14] (imini.samsco.home [192.168.254.14]) (authenticated bits=0) by pooker.samsco.org (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id j4OJHsZH029809; Tue, 24 May 2005 13:17:55 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Message-ID: <42937D06.1070309@samsco.org> Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 13:14:14 -0600 From: Scott Long User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.7) Gecko/20050416 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mike Jakubik References: <3248.172.16.0.199.1116876092.squirrel@172.16.0.1> In-Reply-To: <3248.172.16.0.199.1116876092.squirrel@172.16.0.1> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=3.8 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=failed version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on pooker.samsco.org Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Lifetime of FreeBSD branches X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 19:15:39 -0000 Mike Jakubik wrote: > Could someone point me to a resource that outlines the expected supported > lifetime of all the branches? Can't find anything concrete on the webpage. > > I'm developing a product, which i hope will run on FreeBSD. However the > rapid development of 5, and now 6 arriving out in a few months has me > worried if FreeBSD will be the right choice short and long term. I have > even considered using 4.11 for its stability and speed on single processor > systems, but I'm worried that some ports/hw will not be supported. > > The recent amount of problems with 5 has me a little discouraged too, and > even considering Linux as an alternative. Hopefully that wont be the case, > but a clear outline of whats to come would be very helpful in the decision > making. > > Thanks. > First of all, as the release engineer, I cannot stress enough that 6.0 is only an evolutionary step from 5.x. It's natural to assume that every major version change indicates major (and majorly destabilizing) changes, but that is exactly what we are trying to get away from now. When people ask what the future of 5.x is, my answer is "6.x" because that's exactly what it is: a continuation and refinement of what we did with 5.x, with a few needed architecture changes and features. We are going to release 6.0 within the next few months, and 6.1 4 months after that. There will be a 5.5 release inbetween there just to wrap up that branch and provide users a bridge for 6.x. I don't expect there to be any 5.x releases after 5.5 because there simply won't be anything left to offer in that branch that isn't in 6.x. The 6.x transition will not have the handicaps that the 5.x transition had for users. It does not have a significantly different compiler that requires major porting work for user applications. It does not have a dozen new experimental features that are still being debugged. The only really new and experimental feature is the SMP VFS work, but that has been undergoing a significant amount of testing, and it can be turned off if need be. This is in sharp contrast to 5.x that had so many overlapping experimental areas that it was hard to test, isolate and fix problems. I think that we've gotten over most of the stability and performance hurdles of 5.x. We have a complete OS, not just a kernel, and it has more components than the 4.x OS. But despite that, most bugs reported on this list seem to get solved fairly quickly, either with advice from others or with a commit to the source tree. We have a number of very strong and very active ports and source tree committers that are doing a very good job of refining the system, and I expect that to continue. More bug reports are always welcome, and if you feel that there is a bug that isn't getting attention that is critical for 6.0, email re@FreeBSD.org about it, or email me personally. As for performance, Kris has shown that the 5.x/6.x performance penalty is now much more of a myth than reality. SMP on 6.x is significantly more scalable and high performance than anything we've released before. We are finally starting to see the benefits of our SMPng design. Most of the infrastructure work is done, so 6.x will be about refining it, locking down more peripheral drivers and components, and tending to the general details that have fallen behind in 5.x. It's going to be a very good release series. I understand that there are some specific reasons for some people to stick with 4.x. There were people that stuck with 2.2.x back during the 3.x and 4.x days because they also had specific needs. I think that this is fine if done for the right reasons, and I'm glad that those people are willing to stick with FreeBSD instead of looking elsewhere. However, if there is anything that we can do to help with the transition forward to 5.x/6.x, please let me know. Again, please don't take the abrupt switch to 6.0 to mean that 5.x is flawed or that 6.x will also have a short lifespan. The real purpose of the switch is nothing but positive; it'll keep us focused and prevent us from overreaching and overextending ourselves. It's a very good and very postive strategy. Scott