Fwd: Re: TODO list?

[Paul Robinson]

On Sat, Jun 28, 2003 at 06:52:36PM -0500, wgrim at siue.edu wrote:

> I have taken a look at the PR list before, but I get depressed when I look at
> some of the requests.  Some requests don't look very hard, but they require
> hardware that I don't have.  How do you guys go about handling bug fixes if you
> don't happen to have certain hardware that someone else may have?

I was thinking about this the other day. And yes, it was frustrating. I just
went back and had another look at the list to see if there were any obvious
purges - and then something interesting popped up. There are quite a few
suspended or open PRs on older versions of FreeBSD, but nothing submitted
for later versions, and the problem seems to have "disappered" - e.g.  
kern/2325 which was still a bug in 4.3-R, but I can't replicate in -CURRENT
(unless I'm doing something wrong). Which suggests somebody has fixed it.  
Take a look at -CURRENT version of the relevant code, take a look at the
older version, if you can spot the problem, suggest an MFC? It might help
maintainers purge a big chunk.

Or you can just go around begging for hardware.
 
> Also, when you're working on a PR, do you roll your OS version back to whatever
> the PR requires?  If so, do you just cvsup downgrade your source and "make
> buildworld... etc"?

I have VMware. I can have a copy of every -RELEASE and an up-to-date 
-CURRENT on the go on the same machine all running at the same time if need 
be. Expect performance problems. :-) Unfortunately it costs money and means 
that for ease-of-use (trust me, the port is horrid) my main dev machine is a 
Windows box, but even so...
 
> I have lots of interest in beginning some simple tasks with the kernel, but
> it's quite difficult to know where to start.  I'm good at C/C++ and have taken
> an OS course; I just don't know how this particular kernel works on most levels.

I took a look at this aaaaages ago. Back in late 2001. My main problem then 
was time. My current problem is getting bandwidth into my new home, but I do 
know that PRs are a good way of learning the OS, gets you known to 
maintainers, and ultimately helps purge a big, nasty database, everybody 
wishes was empty. I also know that very senior members of the project will 
give encouragement to anybody who helps purge PRs. My advice to you if you 
have the time, is just go for it. I'll be finally getting around to my own 
PR purging activities in a few weeks now that I have time, (soon!) bandwidth 
and a desire to stop drinking. Long story. Don't ask. Anyway....

Good luck.

-- 
Paul Robinson