Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:44:12 -0500
From: mxs46@k2.scl.cwru.edu (Michael Sokolov)
Message-Id: <199901261944.OAA03412@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu>
To: pups@minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au
Subject: Re: 4.4BSD
Sender: owner-pups@minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au
Precedence: bulk

Joerg B. Micheel <joerg@krdl.org.sg> wrote:

> I don't think UCB has been using this term for 15 years.

1995 - 1980 = 15

1980 is the year of the 3BSD release, the first release from CSRG that's an
actual operating system kernel and not just a package of userland enhancements.
If you include the latter (1BSD and 2BSD) too, it'll be more than 15 years.

> That
> is because research is a different world from commercial efforts. There is no
> such thing as "this is BSD / not BSD" as compared to the "one true JAVA(tm)".
> You cannot steal BSD, you can only contribute to it.

That's exactly what I'm arguing! This is not a fight, this is research OS
development. I'm not stealing BSD, I'm contributing to it. Volunteering to do
the job of the principal maintainer of 4.3BSD-*, which no one has done since
1988, is one of the greatest contributions one can make.

Marshall Kirk McKusick tells me that he started the same way: first a
contributor, then the principal maintainer. He didn't just assume the title, he
earned it. I followed the same path. I have been doing miscellaneous work in
preparation for this project for the past 3 years. I became the principal
maintainer and architect only when I actually started doing this job, i.e.,
maintaining the master SCCS tree and making architectural decisions.

I have a proposal: Let's end this pointless flame war. Titles are earned, not
assumed. So far the only people participating in it are the ones who have never
actually tried my system on a VAX. It's funny that you guys started challenging
my maintainer job only now and not when I made my first release a month ago.
When I made my release, there was absolutely no dissent from anyone. Instead, I
was getting direct E-mails from several people asking me how to install it on
their VAXen. There is only one way to earn the high title of the principal
maintainer: do a good job at it. The former CSRG folks certainly did this. If
you believe that I haven't done anough for VAX BSD to earn the title of its
maintainer, how about ending this flame war and letting me go back to work so
that I can do my job and prove myself with deeds instead of words?

> And since the core team of BSDI today
> consist of people formerly involved in BSD, what problem should there be they
> keep calling their work BSD ?

No problem at all! All I'm saying is that despite what someone has suggested,
they have no authority to bar others from doing the same.

Michael Sokolov
TUHS 4BSD Coordinator
4.3BSD-* Maintainer
Quasijarus Project Principal Architect & Developer
Phone: 440-449-0299 or 216-217-2579
ARPA Internet SMTP mail: mxs46@k2.scl.cwru.edu
TUHS WWW page: http://minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au/TUHS/
Quasijarus WWW page: http://minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au/Quasijarus/