Porting FreeBSD to Z mainframes idea

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Saturday, 18 January 2020 at 12:43:02 +0530, Shivank Garg wrote:
> Hi!
> I wish to pursue this idea of porting FreeBSD to IBM Z mainframes.
> Currently, there are no BSD derivatives for Z mainframes, and I find the
> idea of porting FreeBSD to Z mainframe.
>
> Someone on IRC suggested to port NetBSD first, as it is easier to port on
> different hardware platforms.

Agreed, at least at first sight.  Have you discussed this on the
NetBSD lists?

> There is a sponsored internship program called OpenMainFrame
> Mentorship. So, I thought to propose this project in this
> program. But I'm a beginner and have very little idea about the
> whole porting process and challenges faced during it.  I will be
> very thankful if you can give suggestions about this, and how much
> time will it take for a beginner? The mentorship program is for a
> span of 3-4 months.

Is success in that time an important requirement?  You may find it
too complicated for the time frame.  Help from somebody who has ported
to a different platform would probably help.  In the specific case of
the Z series, you may have significant architectural issues to contend
with: the Z series evolved from the 360/370, which didn't even have
stacks.  I don't know how different the Z series is, but it would be
good to find out before you start.

> Also, If it's too difficult, can there be any doable goals in the
> porting process that I can propose for the program and I would
> continue the project even after the program is over. I personally
> feel the project has good potential, and It will be very helpful in
> my learning growth.

This is probably a better aim.  I can't think of anything offhand.

Greg
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