[openbeos] Re: MIPS32 port for GSoC
- From: Ingo Weinhold <bonefish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:07:42 +0100
On 2007-03-21 at 15:17:26 [+0100], Jonas Sundström <jonas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> "Donovan Schulteis" <deej575@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ...
> > MHO is that a 1.0release on x86 should be the only
> > priority at this time. Once there, other platforms can be
> > examined... but the community needs the one complete
> > platform before starting to worry about others, nevermind
> > the lack of an army of devs to keep all platforms moving
> > forward. Stay focused on a single target for now... ;)
>
> Yes, Haiku should stay focused on desktop computers (and desktop use
> cases), but the 32-bit PC/Mac, which is what Haiku expects today, isn't
> the solid rock it used to be. I'm not saying we will all be using cell
> phones or that the PC is dying. What I mean, what I'm hoping, is that
> the PC mono culture may be falling apart, at last.
>
> Hardware changes, which is why we need to be agile and make sure that
> Haiku is ready to move to other hardware without lengthy redesigns.
> We've already, sort of, lost a couple of years. If an individual wants
> to donate his/her time towards making Haiku run on alternative
> (unknown, yet current) hardware, without any ill effects on the machine
> independent parts (or on the x86-dependent parts), what's not to like?
>
> Haiku needs more people who understand the kernel, gcc, executable
> formats, debugging, optimization, the build system, device drivers -
> all the things most people, even developers, don't want to know about.
>
> If I can pursue a MIPS port -within Haiku- I can be useful to the
> project. Some of the most important parts of Haiku will get tested in
> slightly different ways. If I have to do it outside of Haiku I will
> have less time for Haiku.
>
> A MIPS port would not debase Haiku or somehow alter its focus on
> personal (desktop) computing. I don't think it would take away any more
> mentoring resources than would guiding any other developer learning the
> Haiku kernel.
I don't want to be the party-pooper, but I think, this porting discussion
is moot. A port to a platform, PPC, MIPS, SPARC, whatever, will happen, if
and only if a developer feels like doing it and does it. And if such a port
is done in a reasonable way, we will, of course, add it to the official
Haiku sources, whatever the platform.
> This is what I would like to spend my time on. Haiku's google money
> would be a nice incentive, but I can understand that people don't want
> to see that money spent on something that is not immediately useful to
> most people,
Yep, that's a different story. The project admins and Haiku Inc. want and
need to focus on our primary goal, which is a reincarnation of BeOS in form
of an open source operating system, the target platform being x86. If you
want to do a MIPS port, great, but I wouldn't expect financial support from
the project. On the other hand, if you help us reaching the primary goal
now, the chance of getting more official support for the MIPS port
thereafter might increase significantly. :-P
<insert personal opinion disclaimer>
> like a .pkg installer or a HDA audio driver, but what
> Haiku truly needs the most is more kernel (etc) developers that
> eventually will take on the 15 or so tasks (of 21) on Haiku's list of
> ideas for Google SoC that list kernel skills as desired.
No doubt, more active developers would certainly help a lot. :-)
CU, Ingo
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