From comp.unix.bsd Sat Feb 13 15:01:21 1993 Path: hcshh!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!ieunet!dec4ie.ieunet.ie!jkh From: jkh@whisker.lotus.ie (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: [386bsd] PATCHKIT 0.2 STATUS - Please Read. Message-ID: Date: 13 Feb 93 00:09:29 GMT Sender: usenet@ieunet.ie (USENET News System) Organization: Lotus Development Ireland Lines: 121 Nntp-Posting-Host: whisker.lotus.ie I was going to make this announcement just a little later (like Monday), but Karl's recently posted patches #77 - #82 have forced my hand somewhat. There are several events occurring right now on the "unofficial patchkit" front that everyone should know about before installing any more patches from anyone. This is not to imply that people are releasing bad patches, or that there aren't a lot of very good contributed patches floating around, but as they used to say in the folksong, "the times they are a-changin'." First off, after many months of dedicated and arduous service, Nate Williams has decided to step down from his position as patchkit coordinator. After some discussion with him and others involved in 386bsd development, I've been elected to take his place. This means that you should send your contributions for the next patchkit release to me and I've created several mailing lists for the purpose of making the patchkit more accessable to the public. If you wish to contribute a patch, please send it to: patches@whisker.lotus.ie You can also send patches directly to me, jkh@whisker.lotus.ie - it makes no difference either way. If you want a greater voice in the way the patchkit releases are being done, or just need to keep more abreast of unfolding events, then you may also join the mailing list: 386bsd_patchkit@whisker.lotus.ie (Requests to join sent to the mailing list, and not 386bsd_patchkit-request, will be rudely ignored!). Please be aware that I wish to keep the membership of this list reasonably small, as it will no doubt concern itself primarily with arcane issues around patchkit maintainence and I don't want a flood of "please subscribe me" requests that are simply followed by an equal flood of "please unsubscribe me" requests 3 weeks later. Please only ask to join this list if you are sincerely interested! I highly appreciate your cooperation in this regard as it reduces my administrative workload and gives me more time to work on the patchkit itself. I'll also be handling the setup of alternate mailing list exploders at other sites for greater reliability (ref's continued future is somewhat murky at present, so I've not automatically elected to set up shop there), but for now, these are the addresses to send to. Second, it is my understanding that 0.2 (the release, not the patchkit) is starting to seriously lurk in our futures. It is more important now than ever before that we begin tightening up our patch strategy so that the transition can go as smoothly as possible. This means adopting a more conservative "wait and see" approach before contemplating any serious hacking on the system, as well as cooperating as much as we can in working out the last few general bugs in the system in time for integration into 0.2. It would be nice if we could make 0.2 the easiest out-of-box install yet. I don't mean this as an an attempt to muzzle creativity, or say that I'm going to be draconian about what patches go in or don't. Far from it indeed. 386bsd is a product of all of those who've been willing to stay up late at night, forsaking sleep and often a social life, to constantly improve 386bsd and add the new and interesting features that keep interest in it alive. The patchkit is simply a mechanism for ensuring that changes get out in the most ordered fashion possible and it certainly wouldn't exist without user support (that's you). Nonetheless, I'll be the first to admit that communication between the patchkit coordinators and the user community hasn't always been ideal up to now, and I'll do my very best to change that. Rather than working in a vacuum, keeping everyone in the dark about what's coming until it's suddenly released onto the net, I'll be periodically discussing what we've got planned and what sort of things we're working on fixing. Naturally, plans sometimes change as Murphy raises his pointy little head, but I think I'll manage to keep people fairly accurately updated on how things are headed with their favorite operating system. For those that REALLY want to know all the nitty-gritty details, there's always the mailing list. I'll also be spending quite a bit of time around making the upgrade process between patchkits less painful than it's been up to now. I know you don't like backing out entire patchkits (neither do I) and I'll be doing my very best to avoid this kind of thing in the future. If you have any ideas about how the patchkit mechanism might be improved, please don't hesitate to contact me. Finally, as his last official act, Nate will be releasing patckit 0.2.1. It will probably be on ref.tfs.com as you read this, but you should probably watch this space for details. This patchkit should be considered the "official unofficial patchkit" and I will assume that you've applied this as part of the next patchkit. So, in summary: Send new patches to: patches@whisker.lotus.ie Join the mailing list: 386bsd_patchkit-request@whisker.lotus.ie Watch for: patchkit 0.2.1, from Nate Williams. Send comments to: jkh@whisker.lotus.ie / jkh@gnu.ai.mit.edu / jkh@violet.berkeley.edu / jkh@lotus.com (pick a site, any site :-) My thanks for your patience in reading this far and I'll see you in the next patchkit! Jordan Hubbard -- Jordan Hubbard Lotus Development Ireland jkh@whisker.lotus.ie 386bsd Patchkit Coordinator All-around nice dude. I don't speak for Lotus, Ok? They're HUUUUUUGE and I'm like Reeeeal Smaaaall.