This is awful, awful news. John was a great guy, a great talent, and an inspiration.
My condolences to his family and friends! :-( On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 3:44 AM, Bryan Cantrill <[email protected]> wrote: > > It is with a heavy heart that I announce that we in the DTrace community > have lost one of our own: the indomitable John Birrell, who ported DTrace > to FreeBSD, suffered a stroke and passed away on Friday, November 20, > 2009. > > We on Team DTrace knew John to be a remarkably talented and determined > software engineer. As those who have attempted ports can attest, DTrace > passes through rough country, and a port to a foreign system is a > significant undertaking that requires mastery of both DTrace and > (particularly) the target system. And in being the first to attempt a > port, > John's challenge was that much greater -- and his success in the endeavor a > tribute to both his ability and (especially) his tenacity. For example, > in performing the port, John decided that DTrace's dependency on the > cyclic subsystem was such that it, too, needed to be ported. He didn't > need to do this (and indeed, other ports have decided that an arbitrary > resolution profile provider is not worth the significant trouble), but > that he undertook this additional technical challenge anyway -- even when > any victory would remain hidden to all but the most expert eye -- says a > lot about John as both an engineer and a man. Later, when the port ran > into some frustrating licensing issues, John once again did not give up. > Rather, he backed up, and found a path forward that would satisfy all > parties -- even though it required significant technical reworking on his > part. I have long believed that the mark of a great engineer is not how > frequently they get knocked down, but rather how quickly they get back up > -- and in this regard, John was indisputably a giant. > > John, you will be missed -- not only by the FreeBSD community upon which > you made an indelible mark, but by those of us in the DTrace community who > only had the opportunity to work with you more recently. And while your > legacy might remain anonymous to the future generations that will benefit > from the fruits of your long labor, we will always know that it never > would have happened without you. Thank you, and farewell. > > - Bryan > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Bryan Cantrill, Sun Microsystems Fishworks. http://blogs.sun.com/bmc > _______________________________________________ > dtrace-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > -- [email protected]
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