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FreeBSD forked: DragonFly

By Jeremy C. Reed

In a posting to the freebsd-hackers mailing list, Matthew Dillon announced his new DragonFly BSD project: "to move kernel development along an entirely new path towards SMP, and to completely rewrite the packaging and distribution system."

The code was originally imported from the FreeBSD RELENG_4 (4.8-STABLE) on June 16. The announcement said that they intend to backport many FreeBSD 5 features, but that is not the initial focus. Both UP and SMP builds are working in the current codebase, according to the announcement.

According to the project's website, some of the goals include:

  • a light weight kernel threading (LWKT) model;
  • a light weight port/messaging API;
  • creating a portable API for user programs to interoperate with kernel;
  • fixing the VOP_LOOKUP interface and VFS cache;
  • convert the VOP interface to a messaging API;
  • mimic Modified Exclusive Shared Invalid (MESI) for caching;
  • new I/O device model; and
  • a packaging system with explicit versioning dependencies.

The status webpage says the threads is mostly done and that the I/O device model and port/messaging interface is in progress. The website says DragonFly BSD is going to be a multi-year project.

A few mailing lists and newsgroup forums are available. The source code can be browsed via FTP or retrieved via cvs and cvsup.

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Discussion

Discuss this article below.

BSD Mutates! - Rik

BSD Mutates!
Rik - July 25, 2003 17:54:58
You should read this! Dillon is a crackerjack Amiga programmer. The elegant messaging architecture and compact kernel are the hallmarks of the AmigaOS design!

Amiga lives!!!!

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