FreeLists / openbeosnetteam / [openbeosnetteam] Re: Kernel move... [LONG]

["Axel Dörfler" <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Philippe wrote:
> However, doing this:
> 1) will break our current code design into parts
> 2) will need everyone here to play with newos kernel, which will slow 
> down 
> both energy and motivation at least to start (as it need yet another 
> partition 
> for yet another OS...). Please, remember we're net_kit members, not 
> kernel kit 
> members. People who want to play with the new kernel are in kernel 
> kit too, but 
> not all us are.
> 3) will break/need to fork the code for a potential R5 network stack 
> replacement hope that, even if you, David, never want it, is expected 
> by many 
> others (I'm asked very often "when could we replace net_server with 
> OBOS one?").
> If OBOS take more time to reach R1 than expected (who knows when 
> here, apart 
> that it's not yet!?) or even fail, this stack may be of great value 
> for BeOS 
> users. 
> 4) will make harder for beta-testers of the new stack: testing 
> against a very 
> well-known stable OS is far more easy from user's point of view than 
> against a 
> new, not yet friendly NewOS kernel...
> 5) is not necessary at all to support this new kernel, as the current 
> code 
> design should work too, without [m]any changes. If it reveal itself 
> more 
> difficult to *port* the design to newos kernel than expected, we'll 
> have still 
> time to adopt a new design then, no?

Although porting BFS to the NewOS kernel will involve me with writing 
its cache and parts of the vnode layer (etc.), these are exactly the 
reasons I've made a BFS replacement for R5 first (and it's not even a 
need there - unlike a proper networking stack).
To have code that's proven to work is nice before porting it to another 
platform - even if it looks like more work at first.
And I also have a proper userland implementation of the VFS where I can 
test the file system with a debugger and everything the BeOS debug land 
has to offer (and that's so great that I put some effort into the 
userland server for the networking stack).

Adios...
   Axel.