FreeBSD hacker 101

[KAYVEN RIESE]

Aren't the ports collection something that makes freeBSD stand out
very differently than linux?  also, no rpm, and the pkg_add utility.
updating operating system with cvsup?  buildworld?  all these things
are different starkly, or are they not?

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008, Xin LI wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> william wong wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Are there any docments or pointers to get me started hacking around my
>> 6.3asap? Building toochains, submitting patches etc.... or i just
>> follow most
>> of the conventions in the Linux kernel development community?
>
> I think it's nothing "that" different.  A typical way is that you find
> something you are not happy with, i.e. what you think FreeBSD is lacking
> of, do some proof of concept work, discuss it in the mailing list,
> refine your work, submit patch, become a committer :-)
>
> The only "difference" as far as I can tell is that FreeBSD tends to have
> stricter code style guidelines (the only exceptions are what we call
> "vendor code" which is maintained outside, this includes toolchains,
> device drivers that is supported by vendors, in order to make future
> upgrades easier).  However, unlike some other bad code style guidelines,
> FreeBSD's coding style is very well documented (as in style(9)), and
> following the guideline will make your code easier to read (e.g. think
> about how to find the implementation with grep(1)?  Yes, grep ^function.).
>
> We eager to see contributions from all aspects, but if you have no idea
> for your own, or is looking for something to give a shot, you can check
> out our projects idea page at http://www.freebsd.org/projects/ideas/ .
>
> Small contributions, like making more documentation about various
> sysctl's, etc. are more suitable for those who just started to learn
> about the code and can not invest a lot of whole bunch of time on
> FreeBSD (yet), are welcomed as well.
>
> Another good start is to query our PR database (
> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr-summary.cgi ) and see if there is
> something you have interest, but there is no fix, or there is a fix but
> stayed for a long time and push them.
>
> Cheers,
> - --
> Xin LI <delphij at delphij.net>	http://www.delphij.net/
> FreeBSD - The Power to Serve!
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD)
>
> iD8DBQFHmEebi+vbBBjt66ARArlQAJ4xMkuM6ZflCM25wcq7Q+efxedpAACdH4w6
> jwc1NRdGUp/vrGf8mMpWTiM=
> =Z6lW
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>

*----------------------------------------------------------*
   Kayven Riese, BSCS, MS (Physiology and Biophysics)
   (415) 902 5513 cellular
   http://kayve.net
   Webmaster http://ChessYoga.org
*----------------------------------------------------------*