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Software Operating Systems BSD

OpenBSD Hackathon Approaching 173

Posted by Hemos from the development-forward dept.
BsdFreakZoid writes "OpenBSD developers from all over the world get together once a year at their annual 'hackathon'. This year's hackathon is about to start with around 60 developers, taking place in Calgary, Alberta in Canada from May 21st through May 28th. KernelTrap has spoken with a number of OpenBSD developers about this year's and past hackathons. OpenBSD creator Theo de Raadt is quoted saying, "a few hackathons ago we had a slogan of 'shut up and hack', this is because hackathons are not conferences. People don't come to chit-chat, but to do what projects do. Some other projects hold discussion meetings, I would call those talkathons. We don't discuss, we do." Past OpenBSD hackathons have seen the introduction of SMP support, support for the amd64 architecture, and many other significant advances. What big advance will come out of the 2005 hackathon is yet to be seen."
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OpenBSD Hackathon Approaching More

OpenBSD Hackathon Approaching

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  • Suvivor: Calgary (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:04PM (#12544177)

    "we have a barbecue at Theo's at the beginning of the hackathon, to get to know the new people." [...] "we go out for food or coffee in small groups."

    ...and at the end of the day they vote someone off the island.
    • This is a meeting of BSD Gurus in Calgary. You get voted off the mountaintop.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • It isn't, it however located on an island. Most commonly the island is called "America", and it is generally divided into two parts: "North America", and "South America".

        • It isn't, it however located on an island. Most commonly the island is called "America", and it is generally divided into two parts: "North America", and "South America".

          I was tought at school, that an island, is an expanse of land surrounded by water which contains no more than one country. If it does contain more than one country, then it is a continent and not considered an island.

          Australia is the largest island in the World by this definition. However since it is so large, it is considered to be a co
          • I will always think of my island home (Australia) as being an island though.

            In addition to this, I consider the change from Australia being an island, to being a continent to be wrong. The powers that be were wrong to do that and the World was wrong to accept it.

            An island implies isolation. Australia is the largest country to be completely isolated by water and thus it is an island.

            PS, with George W Bush at the helm of the USA, I feel a large part of North America is quickly becoming incontinent. ie, it

          • Not quite true. You may want to check out this island [wikipedia.org] which contains exactly 2 countries.

          • Is Pluto a planet? There are larger asteroids that have more 'normal' orbits. Is Australia a continent? How about Antarctica (which doesn't contain any countries)? What about tiny land masses with two countries.

            Everyone has an intuitive definition of Continent and island. Those definitions ALL fail somewhere.

    • that part of the event is apparently called the Eatathon, it's followed closely by the Stand-In-Line -for-the-Restroomathon

  • No discussion? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Bender_ ( 179208 )
    I have no idea about this, but I presume that the aim of meeting to code is meant to improve cooperation, right? Is this a pure "Extreme programming" session, or will there be some planning? Otherwhise it sounds like fun.

    • Re:No discussion? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Arbin ( 570266 ) * on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:14PM (#12544256) Journal
      Perhaps if you read the article, this snippet might have answered your question:

      "normally, we have to sit down and write a long explanation email in order to communicate, and people are in different timezones, so the feedback is often less than fast. Being able to go directly up to somebody and perhaps even work together on a task in real-time, is a big plus."

      ....

      "The reduction in distance and time augments the dialog between developers working in related areas, and some new projects can even spontaneously emerge on their own."

      As always, RTFA

    • Re:No discussion? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by molnarcs ( 675885 ) <csabamolnar@gm a i l . com> on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:17PM (#12544280) Homepage Journal
      Have your read the article? ;) That's one of the questions it answers very clearly:
      I was curious to understand more about what happens at the OpenBSD hackathons, and if there is a goal or focus behind each one. Henning Brauer laughed and explained, "there is no focus for the hackathons. I mean, get real, you can't work on a single thing with over 50 (over 60 this time) developers." Peter Valchev added, "there is no specific focus for any of the events, everyone gets together and works on whatever they want to. Really it all works out by itself, because the developers know what's important to work on - it's not something they need to be told."
      This is a really nice interview - and shows that openbsd is a nicely managed distribution... I mean there is a strong sense of community among their developers, and social events like these serve to enchance that sense. This was funny:
      Bob Beck, who is responsible for making the barbecue happen, notes, "the barbeque has become sort of a tradition, We host it at Theo's house, normally with whatever meat I've managed to bag the previous hunting season. Normally it's moose and/or deer marinated kebabs with raisin rice pilaf. The recipe is recorded for posterity in any openbsd distribution in /usr/share/games/recipes, in hackathon proportions."
      • /usr/share/games/fortune/recipes

        Hackathon Moose (or other Ex-Magnificent-Forest-Creature) Barbecue

        30 cups oil
        15 cups Soy sauce
        5 cups Worcestershire Sauce
        40 tsp dry mustard
        20 tsp black pepper
        10 cups lemon juice
        10 cups white vinegar
        80 cloves crushed garlic

        about 75 pounds of boneless meat (moose, deer, elk, beef - try chicken
        too). For reference this is roughly an entire large dressed (Alberta
        size) whitetail deer, with some moose and beef thrown in for good
        measure. I've never tried finding enough chickens f

      • Re:No discussion? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Shanep ( 68243 )
        openbsd is a nicely managed distribution

        OpenBSD is not a "distribution" if you are using the term as it would be used with respect to Linux "distributions". Linux distro's package other peoples software and tailor it, whereas BSD developers "take ownership" of all the software that falls under their releases and maintain it all as a whole.

        This might sound like a minor difference, however use a bunch of Linux distros and then use OpenBSD and you might, like I and many others have, notice the very clean an

  • Donations (Score:5, Interesting)

    by almeida ( 98786 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:15PM (#12544268)
    If you like OpenBSD or OpenSSH, now might be a good time to donate a little bit to the project. Donations help pay for stuff like this hackathon. Considering buying a CD, t-shirt, or just giving some cash. This can be done at the orders page [openbsd.org]. They also accept hardware donations [openbsd.org].

    • Re:Donations (Score:3, Interesting)

      by myspys ( 204685 )
      I tried donating some hardware (only some U160 SCSI disks, but nevertheless). I emailed the coordinator for my country at that time (Sweden), no reply.

      And as far as I can remember (although, don't take my word for it!), I emailed Theo as well. No reply, although that's more understandable ;)

      • Re:Donations (Score:3, Informative)

        by Dr. Smeegee ( 41653 ) *
        That is unusual! I donated a couple of things (a 3com card with onboard encryption and a broadcast card) and was always answered promptly. Keep trying! These guys love getting new toys!

      • Trolling Redux (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        A link [undeadly.org] to one of your other trolling attempts???

  • Shut up and hack (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kevin_conaway ( 585204 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:17PM (#12544296) Homepage
    Is there any sort of communication or direction of what features people are supposed to be hacking (working) on? Or is it everyone just shows up and develops what they feel like. As a software developer, the latter scares me a bit.

    I guess you can't argue with results though.

    • Re:Shut up and hack (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nimrangul ( 599578 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:35PM (#12544447) Journal
      Gaging from past hackathons, ideas are usually thrown around between developers when they arrive and come up with things they want to do, then do them while there.

      It isn't that there is no talking, they do go out drinking and hiking and talk while doing so - it's just that they should have a general idea of what they want to do before they head to Calgary anyways.

      They're there for seven days and are given a good chance to plan out what they're doing ahead of time, so although new ideas do pop up there, it's not like it's total chaos.

      Things like the rewrite of dhcpd came out of those kinds of discussions.

  • great events (Score:3, Insightful)

    by guildsolutions ( 707603 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:23PM (#12544335)
    These things are really good... They can show serious flaws and direct programers in the areas needed to develop.. Microsoft should take note of these and have them weekly, if not daily :-)
  • I can't help but wonder if adaptec ever got their act together and sent the reference materials the OpenBSD guys wanted.

    Anyone know what the outcome of that fiasco was?

    • Re:Adaptec? (Score:2, Troll)

      by Nimrangul ( 599578 )
      I can sum it up in three points I think:

      aac was disabled, it is no longer supported by GENERIC (and thus OpenBSD).

      Adaptec says they'll have their SDK out some time soon, which is still not what the OpenBSD people were asking for.

      Scott Long thinks OpenBSD developers and users are a bunch of fuckers.

      • Re:Adaptec? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by molnarcs ( 675885 )
        Where do you get that idea from? (I'm referring to Scott Long's opinion). For one thing, Scott Long is quick to put down trolls [freebsd.org] who try to foster the myth of some kind of politics taking place between the various BSDs.

        There really are very few political forces that shape things between the BSD's, whereas the amount of cooperation is actually quite strong and pleasant. Hyping up the politics myth only does a disservice to everyone.

        Why do you have to do exactly the thing ScottL speaks about there?

        • Re:Adaptec? (Score:1, Flamebait)

          by Nimrangul ( 599578 )
          Scott's reaction to OpenBSD's call for it's users and other concerned Adaptec customers to voice their opinion about documentation is the major basis for my comment.

          He said that what Theo was doing was wrong and that the closed source CLI he made was perfectly fine - that things like Theo's little crusade hurt all BSDs further hopes of companies cooperating with them.

          The shouting and the threats and all the other tripe reflect poorly on everyone, whether you choose to see it or not, and _that's_ what I

          • I don't see in any way Scott's comment implying that OpenBSD's devs are a bunch of fuckers. Also, he seems to agree with the points Theo makes and criticizes his style - that is nowhere near to what your original post implies. Actually, I don't agree with Scott's criticism here - I don't have anything agains Theo's style in this instance, but I can see that there might be valid arguments against the way he presented his case. However, I disagree with calling names and blowing the issue out of proportions -
        • Read the openbsd misc mailing list archives. Scott posted to websites denouncing openbsd's efforts to open up documentation for adaptec controllers because he used to work there. He also lied and said that this kind of thing doesn't help and makes openbsd look bad, despite it proving effective repeatedly in the past, and all three BSDs benefiting from it.

          While there's not that much political "forces" between the BSDs, freebsd developers publicly trying to prevent openbsd developers from improving their O

    • Re:Adaptec? (Score:4, Funny)

      by btarval ( 874919 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:43PM (#12544535)
      "Anyone know what the outcome of [the Adaptec] fiasco was?"

      Yes. The hackathon after this one will be held on-site at Adaptec.

      Alas, Adaptec doesn't know this yet. ;)

  • Calgary? (Score:4, Funny)

    by BioCS.Nerd ( 847372 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @12:43PM (#12544531) Homepage
    Calgary? Isn't that the strip club capitol of Canada? How do they expect geeks to hack when there's readily available naked women geeks can see for the first time? ;) In all seriousness, good luck! May your coding be swift, and may your debugger bless you.

    • Re:Calgary? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That would be St-Catherine Street in Montreal...

    • Calgary as hackathon venue (Score:5, Interesting)

      by WebCowboy ( 196209 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @01:34PM (#12545048)
      Calgary? Isn't that the strip club capitol of Canada?

      I can tell you as a native Calgarian that Calgary is far from being the strip club capitol of Canada. The reason probably has to do with the fact that active members of the OpenBSD community live here more than anything else--that and the fact Calgary is a very well-connected city (among the most-wired cities in North America and maybe the best in Canada along with maybe Ottawa and Vancouver).

      A little OT but maybe interesting to some:

      Although Calgary and Alberta is not nearly as red-neck/socially conservative as people outside the province often make it out to be, Calgary (and indeed all the prarie provinces) have quite a puritan heritage--for example, Alberta was led by a premier nicknamed "Bible Bill" Aberhart for many years, and in Calgary from prohibition well into the 60s men and women couldn't be in mixed company in any venue that served alcohol (in later days--1950's the city relaxed laws allowing establishments to serve alcohol to both genders in the same room during the Exhibition and Stampede).

      Things have changed a lot since then, but Calgary still doesn't have that big an appetite for strip clubs considering the size of the city. If post-hacking peeler-shows is what they were after I think they would pick a venue somewhere in Quebec--it seems that province embraced more socially liberal attitudes than anywhere else in Canada, except for a few interesting exceptions (in terms of equality for women it was opposite--Alberta and the praries were ahead of the game there and Quebec was the last province in Canada with universal sufferage).

      Maybe that is why Ottawa is known for it's Linux activity--it is both a high-tech city AND is closer to the stripper-action as it sits on the Ontario-Quebec border.

      • I'm from Saskatchewan, where you're not allowed to serve liquor and have naked women in the same building. When I went to Calgary for an IEEE trip, I have to say I was quite quite impressed by the French Maid. The atmosphere was great, the girls were great, and we all around had an awesome time.

    • Re:Calgary? (Score:2, Informative)

      by go-nix.ca ( 581096 )
      No, Windsor, ON is the strip club capital of Canada.
      More strip clubs per capita than any other city.

      • Coincidentally, Windsor is also my home town. You'd think I'd know that, but then again when one of the strip clubs advertisements is, "50 Beautiful Girls, and One Ugly One", I tend to steer clear.

        Milk [windsorx.com] forever!

  • Admittedly, I didn't look REALLY hard, but I couldn't find any location information about this event on the openBSD site itself, or even linked from the article.

    So for somebody that's organizing it, can you post a link to the information about the event itself? Things like locations, dates, times, etc? I live in Calgary, so hey, might check it out just for fun. But it's kind of hard to do that when you have no idea beyond "a hotel downtown".

  • Here's an idea (Score:4, Funny)

    by ninja_assault_kitten ( 883141 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @01:05PM (#12544765)
    Maybe they can hack Theos mind to support a personality.

    • Re:Here's an idea (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Maybe they can hack Theos mind to support a personality.

      Theo has lots of personality. It might be in your face, but if you can't handle someone who speaks truthfully, then go back to living in la la land and masturbating to the underwear section of the Walmart catalog.

      Theo gets shit done. What the fuck does diplomacy achieve if it just gets in the way of what is right?

  • There will be at least ONE public discussion (Score:5, Informative)

    by rbrander ( 73222 ) on Monday May 16, 2005 @01:32PM (#12545026) Homepage
    Theo and some of his visitors over the years have been very generous about speaking at meetings of the Calgary Unix Users Group.

    This year, we cap off our best month in history, in which we have Richard M. Stallman speaking on May 18 at the University Science Theatres (seats 500). Less than a week later, Theo and the entire 50-ish turnout for the Hackathon, invited to the John Dutton Theatre of the main downtown library (seats 400), on May 24th.

    The topic is PF, the packet filter; and the scheduled speaker, Ryan McBride - but the rest of the PF team will be there for question & answer. And with the entire Hackathon invited, the topic could wander a bit.

    If you can make it, look for details at our web site:

    http://www.cuug.ab.ca/ [cuug.ab.ca]

    Roy Brander, P.Eng.
    Chair, Calgary Unix Users Group
  • "a few hackathons ago we had a slogan of 'shut up and hack', this is because hackathons are not conferences. People don't come to chit-chat, but to do what projects do. Some other projects hold discussion meetings, I would call those talkathons. We don't discuss, we do."

    Alright...zip it! Zip it! Ziiiiiip! Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury...E-zip-it A When a problem comes along, you must zip it! Zip it good! Would you like a suckle on my Zipple?
  • It's worth noting these two features were imported almost wholesale from NetBSD.

    Perhaps "portathon" would be a better name. :-)
  • Pretty please!!! Ya ya - I know. Sun is being stupid about releasing the details. I just have this secret fantasy about setting up a 64 cpu OBSD system on one of the SunFire 25k's I set up. Chip support is the first step. The second step is getting one of those 25ks all to myself -- so I can setup access for the developers of course!

  • Geekathons (Score:1, Troll)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 )
    That kind of dismissal of hackers talking socially is why Linux is much more popular than OpenBSD.
  • After Theo's latest public outburst on the IETF's TCP Maintenance list (http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/tcpm/curren t/msg01233.html [ietf.org]), there are a few things that could be addressed at the Hackathon.

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