To add a bit to what Jonathan said:

On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 06:22:33PM -0500, Jonathan A. Kollasch wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 11:20:47AM -0400, Sean Caron wrote:

> > ** if it is known that openafs can run on netbsd [1]
> > 
> > ** and it is also known that openafs can run on big-endian architectures
> > like SPARC (running solaris) [2]
> > 
> > ** is there some reason why openafs would not run on netbsd/sparc and/or
> > netbsd/sparc64?


I can't see why the OpenAFS server components would not work, someone
just needs to, like Jonathan said, fill in enough param files and make
glue so that it builds. I looked at trying it once, stared at it for
about a half hour, then got distracted by something shiny. I'd like it
to work, but have enough other boxes that Just Work as AFS servers
that it never gets high on the priority list.

Now, the OpenAFS *client* components are a whole other matter, since 
those require kernel module stuff. It apparently used to work with 
NetBSD (or so I've heard), but does not now, for any arch. Looking at 
that makes my head want to explode, so I never try it for long. I'd 
love to see it happen, though, enough to bribe people with offers of
cookies if they make it so.

As noted in pr pkg/33354 changing the CFLAGS with which arla is compiled 
seems to make it more stable on the sparc64. It probably needs more 
testing/investigation to find out why.

My talk is a bit outdated --- I'm using the OpenAFS in pkgsrc for all of
my AFS servers, with just a few tweeks to make it and arla co-exist (see
pr pkg/33399). Other than that, I don't do anything special. Updating
this talk and developing it into a better guide has been on the Project
List for a while, but I never seem to get around to it.

In summary:

 - OpenAFS server would probably be easy, someone just needs to do it
 - OpenAFS client is hard, I'll make you cookies if you make it work on
   NetBSD
 - Arla probably needs some attention on sparc64 machines
 - My talk is a bit outdated and I'm lazy

On a side note, I will be at the 2006 AFS and Kerberos Best Practices 
Workshop [1] in Ann Arbor next week and would love to chat with any
people interested in AFS and NetBSD in the area.

[1] http://www.pmw.org/afsbpw06/

-- 
Thomas L. Kula | kula@tproa.net | http://kula.tproa.net/
Mathom House upon the Canw, The People's Republic of Ames