Porting FreeBSD to Z mainframes idea

[Shivank Garg]

Hi,

On Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 3:56 AM Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog at freebsd.org> wrote:

> 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?
>

No. I haven't discussed this with them yet.


>
> > 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.
>

I'll ask for help with the architecture from the mainframe community. Also,
someone suggested taking help from bz at .

> 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.
>

Yeah. I'll look for achievable milestones.

Regards,
Shivank