On Tue, 2 Nov 1999, Kevyn Shortell wrote:

> There is a linux driver for this card, why not simply take the driver
> and port it? =)

Two big problems:

1) The Linux driver is GPL'd. Any port of it to NetBSD would likewise be
GPL'd. Setting aside the religeous factor of GPL vs BSD license issues, we
can't distribute a NetBSD kernel with GPL'd bits in it. The GPL places
requirements on the licenses of the other bits of code you bundle GPL'd
code with. These requirements are often in conflict with the licenses on
other parts of kernel code. Thus we can't merge the two.

So such a driver couldn't be in the install media. :-(

2) Our scsi system is different than both Linux and FreeBSD's. So it will
need to make different demands on the card. Without any documentation,
even of say the sequencer code, it's VERY hard to get things right.

Using the Linux and FreeBSD drivers as a reference, two developers have
tried to make a NetBSD driver. After about two months of trying, they got
something which would read a few bytes from a disk, but it was certainly
not a viable driver. To do it right, they really need docs. :-(

Take care,

Bill