Updated FreeBSD Release Schedule

Serin K Medusa writes: "The folks over at FreeBSD.org have put up a new 'roadmap' detailing the plan of action for the remainder of the year. In particular, check out the plans for a 5.0 preview and expected dates for 4.6. Interesting reading if you're following -CURRENT."

5.0 is a pretty big change.

[jon_c]

in case anyone cares the goals for 5.0 are:

SMPng - fully threaded, preemptable and re-entrant kernel with interrupt handlers running as threads. More than one CPU can run in the kernel simultaneously.

devfs - fully dynamic device creation and tear-down (for things like PCCARD and USB).

Geom - stackable disk model (http://www.freebsd.org/~phk/Geom)

Newcard - New PCCARD/CARDBUS subsystem with much better support for newer hardware (like CARDBUS) and integration with FreeBSD's newbus driver API.

gcc 3.0 - Upgrade to latest compiler technology

source [bsdtoday.com]

Re:Well planned release

[Anonymous Coward]

Not quite. Look at all the installers (Caldera's LIZARD, now used by Redmo^H^H^H^H^HLycoris, comes to mind), some of the startup code (again, the nice graphical startup used by Caldera comes to mind -- yes, I was that impressed with Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 when it came out), the kernel/KDE/etc. developpers they keep on staff, and so forth.

I think the distros do more than just slap a few disparate but complementary components togheter (sp?) . I think more credit is due to them, they have contributed more to the advancement of Linux than many would like to admit -- especially the commercial distros (sorry Debian).

Your assessment could have been valid a few years ago, but no longer.

Re:Well planned release

[swb]

There is no smbclient or smbmount, so you can't even think of doing that.

$ uname -sr
FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE
$ man mount_smbfs

MOUNT_SMBFS(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual MOUNT_SMBFS(8)

NAME
mount_smbfs - mounts a shared resource from an SMB file server

It was added to the system in the past year.

hear, hear! I ditched linux for freebsd.

[xeeno]

I've been running linux since kernel 0.99pl14. I like the hardware support, but freebsd has
matured so much and is so much more stable that
I moved away from linux to an all-freebsd environment.
For those of you that bitch about the time between releases, just look at debian. And learn how to cvsup. :)

Re:Well planned release

[Metrol]

I switched from FreeBSD back to RedHat

Funny, I switched from RedHat to FreeBSD due to a seemingly endless line of RPM dependancy issues, config files that seem to defy all logic, and a directory structure that feels like your totally lost in a video game maze.

but some packages are still "broke" because of the way that FreeBSD is.

276 packages installed here on my primary workstation. Full implementation of Samba, KDE, Gnome, Apache, MySQL, and lots and lots of other stuff. Each and every package in there is working as expected. Oh, and when one of those packages comes out with a new version...

portupgrade samba

...and it just handles ALL the rest. No subscription fees to RedHat to get access to a non-sucky FTP server.

(For example, the SMBD package doesn't work as a domain controller because you can't have a dollar sign in a user name in freebsd.

Umm, why would you want a dollar sign in the user name?? When doing NT style networking you place the dollar sign in the share name, which works just peachy.

There is no smbclient or smbmount, so you can't even think of doing that.)

SMB support is right in the kernel! Yes, smbmount exists natively in FreeBSD. smbclient isn't native, as it's a part of the Samba package. As it should be I might add.

It's a pretty good and fast operating system, but I've switched back to the more popular one for more features and support.

Probably for the best. Either you haven't used FreeBSD in the last 2-3 years, or you didn't properly research the subjects you were having troubles with.

And also..

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget about all the great features being incorporated from the TrustedBSD project into FreeBSD 5.0 .. brand new jail [freebsd.org] implementation and ACL come to mind.

It's Interesting to Me...

[Neovanglist]

It's interesting to me how you can think FreeBSD is dying when several major things have happened on the FreeBSD front.

1)FreeBSD released FreeBSD-4.5 RELEASE just not to long ago, and it has full Java support.

2)FreeBSD is getting new applications ported to it every day. (Note: XFree86 4.2.0 now has FreeBSD binaries available, check XFree86.org)

3)FreeBSD was a good enough OS to have Apple base their new flagship OS (MacOSX) on it. (I don't see them planning to make a Linux based MacOS)

4)FreeBSD's TCP/IP stack was good enough for Microsoft to steal and put in Win2k/XP

With all this said, and the new release schedule, how in the world can you call it dead?

Regards,
Neovanglist

Re:Wait a minute..

[Neovanglist]

FreeBSD has run java via linux emulation for ages. FreeBSD 4.5 runs a native FreeBSD version that gets installed via the ports collection.

Regards,
Neovanglist

Re:FreeBSD is dying...

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever, FreeBSD has always had better SMP support since the very beginning, as well as virtual memory. FreeBSD is the better stable server platform, Linux is better on the desktop. FreeBSD 5.0 will bring a new edge to the server arena. If you think FreeBSD is having a rough time, look at most of your favorite Linux distros. As stated in the original article...

Re:...and it shows.

[KiwiSurfer]

FreeBSD installer while fast and efficient is the same installer they have used for years. What's is the problem with the current installer? If it works well for the purpose it was designed for in the first place there isn't really any need for a new method of installing that may or may not improve on the current installer used in the 4.x releases of FreeBSD. That said, there are, I beleive, some work on a new installer which will be able to work in either text-only mode or graphical (X11) mode and will include many other improvements over the current installer. However, from what I know, it probally won't be used till 5.0-RELEASE or later releases. The only reason I still use linux is its popularity and all the apps I want run on it. It supports the hardware I have, the applications I want are on the cd in .rpm format. I rectently bought a very new box and FreeBSD 4.5 worked right-out-of-the box with all the stuffs except the onboard AC'97 sound so its hardware compatibility is, IMHO, quite good. It may not support some of the more exotic hardwares but it does have decent support for most hardwares that are in common use. Also, I have yet to find any decent UNIX program that doesn't work on FreeBSD -- i currenly have around 130 different packages installed (including KDE, GNOME, gaim, freeciv, doom, galeon, xchat and many others) and they all work perfectly. FreeBSD also has excellent linux binary emulation which emulates many Linux binaries (including StarOffice, Netscape, Acrobat Reader, Opera, and others) flawlessly. - James

Re:Well planned release

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting people to use the OS = contributing to its development. Idiot.