On Tue, 2004-07-06 at 00:39, James K. Lowden wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 16:52:24 +0200, Rohan Nicholls
> <rohan.nicholls@myrealbox.com> wrote:
> > 
> > I have a question about the ports collection etc.
> 
> That would be known as pkgsrc in these parts.  :-)

Yes, sorry about that, I was corrected offlist about that.  Got confused
with all the ported platforms on NetBSD and the ports collection of
FreeBSD.
> 
> > I was wondering how the ports worked, and is there variation between the
> > different platforms and how I must use the ports for each.  
> 
> FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD have different package system.  They're not
> interchangeable.  The pkgsrc system started out as NetBSD-specific, and
> now supports quite a few others (including Linux).  See
> http://www.pkgsrc.org/ for more.

I have been checking it out, thanks.
>   
> 
> > In my wanderings I have been reading about different types of OSes and
> > kernels etc. With the emphasis on portability of netbsd, would it not
> > make sense to use a micro or exo kernel?  
> 
> I think the answer you'd get here -- the polite one, anyway -- is that the
> BSD kernel predates the microkernel "triumph" in academia.  A different
> way to look at it is that there's no free microkernel with anywhere near
> the support of even the smallest BSD, so "better" in any regard is
> theoretical argument.  

This does seem to be a problem, you certainly cannot find a
realistically useable one around the place, and the exokernel seems to
be the next stage in the kernel development, which is very new, and
seems to address many of the performance issues that plagued the
microkernel within the unix model, and there is nothing working in
these.  I do wonder how realistic they are considering the non-progress
that is happening with HURD.
> 
> You may in interested in Unix as an Application:
> 
> http://srl.cs.jhu.edu/courses/600.418/mach3_intro.ps
> 
Thanks for this, very interesting.  And it was idle curiosity, not a
troll so I am thankful noone has decided to blast me.:-)
> --jkl
> 
> 
>