elias@eosp1.UUCP (Doug Elias) (04/12/84)
<=blank ...with whole bunches of snide remarks about the deficiencies of 4.2 being tossed around as asides to specific bug-reports, i'd really appreciate having interested parties bring together all their pet-peeves and reluctant-caveats "under one roof", so-to-speak: I hate 4.2 because ... , except for ... ...any takers? If you could take anything you wanted out of 4.2, what would you choose? If you could add 4.2 features to the OS of your choice, what would be the features, and what would you add them to? ...i'm not really trying to start a fight, but things have gotten a little dull here since people have lost interest in the "pager" controversy... doug
mike@Brl-Tgr.ARPA (04/23/84)
From: Mike Muuss <mike@Brl-Tgr.ARPA> Briefly, while there are some little things in the 4.2 Kernel that I would like to change, I am generally quite pleased with the 4.2 Kernel. With virtually no hacking (except to add ^T support to the TTY driver), we have found 4.2 to be quite usable. The high-performance file system, and the networking support, while not "perfect", I would rank as "super!". If you find the new signal mechanism annoying, I remind you that I posted a simple, ~10 line kernel fix which allows you to selectively return to the old semantics. If you are looking for a system on which to build future sorties into the forefront of computer science, and you wish to have UNIX involved in that effort, then the system you desire is 4.2 BSD. If you desire to build or use a system which will be slower to respond to the demands of improving technology (eg, virtual memory, networking, fast disks, etc), but will provide guaranteed STABILITY, then the system you want is System V. Seriously. On the subject of Berkeley user-mode hacks: While things like "cat -u", and "ls -[a-zA-Z]" tend to sting my sense of parsimony, they are triffling things, mostly, and are irritating only because they are different. But I'm hardly motivated to chop them out -- what is done is done, I have better things to build. And as for /usr/ucb, there are some neat hacks in there, sometimes ugly inside, but we don't find ourselved using them a whole lot, with the definite exception of the r* "remote" utilities (rcp, rsh, rlogin, etc), and some of the status utilities (w/uptime, vmstat, etc). And again, a plug: The way to get the best of both worlds is to use BRL's "System V under 4.2 BSD" package, developed by Doug Gwyn here at BRL. This allows you to benefit from the improved performance of 4.2 BSD, utilize the networking features, play with 4.2 wizbangs as desired, and (if desired) remain in the sheltered, stable, System V environment to build "marketable" code. (I say this because most vendors are either selling System V, or a 4.2/Sys V blend. All our code is public domain, so we choose the environment which makes the most sense for the project). I note in passing that BRL's "System V under 4.2 BSD" is availible from BRL either as an "add on", or in a fully documented, full-distribution format (just like the 4.2 distribution, only 4 reels long). You provide the licenses (4.2 + Sys V) and the tapes, and the rest is free. (Your tax dollars at work). [Please contact me before sending tapes]. Best, -Mike Muuss (301)-278-6678 (1400-2400 EST) AV 283-6678 FTS 939-6678 ArpaNet: Mike @ BRL UUCP: ...!{decvax,research}!brl-bmd!mike Postal: Mike Muuss Leader, Advanced Computer Systems Team Computer Techniques and Analysis Branch Systems Engineering and Concepts Analysis Division U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory Attn: DRSMC-BLB (Muuss) APG, MD 21005