Let me take a stab of responding to this... On Sun, Feb 17, 2008 at 05:33:12PM +0530, Mayuresh Kathe wrote: > Hi, > > NOTE: No intention to behave like a troll. > > I've been following the "multi-threaded ssh/scp" thread and read Ted's > comment that he's stopped working on the kernel threads code because > he doesn't have the time for it nor does he need it any more. > Also that multi-threaded ssh/scp would weaken security features within the OS.
Ted had an itch that rthreads scratched. He worked on it and unfortunately for all of us he ran out of time and even more unfortunately he ran out of steam. In OpenBSD land that means that someone else needs to pick it up. Let me reiterate that this is extremely unfortunate but not not unusual. We, the consumers of Ted's code, can not dictate him what to do and when. He is very busy man with wide interests. When you and I get to use some of his code, FOR FREE, we should thank him instead of complaining. I have had the pleasure of working with Ted on several pieces of code and I am thankful for his time. I learnt quite a few things along the way. > > It just led me to ponder, what is OpenBSD's ultimate goal? OpenBSD does not have an ultimate goal; this is obviously silly and has proven to be bad throughout history. A good example are labor unions, they started out with good intentions and when they reached their "ultimate" goal they were no longer relevant and had to be reinvented to remain relevant. Obviously this is pure human nature to try to hang on to power as long as possible. All this aside that is not how OpenBSD is run. There is no "ultimate" goal but there is a vision as to where we should be heading. This vision is definitively not rigid; OpenBSD as a whole will head into "the right direction" not a predefined one. All that said, as a contributor to the code base I only have limited time to work on OpenBSD. You get what I have time to write, for free! Most people who work on OpenBSD are in that same boat. Life simply gets in the way of hacking. Don't attribute malice to someone's good will. > Is it just to become the worlds most secure OS with as few remote > holes in the default install? That is not a goal that is a side-effect. > Shouldn't it also be our goal to be the best UNIX-like operating > system which is in tune with the current needs of users? Sure, but this always means "most" users. I want to do things where OpenBSD does not help me. So I write the code and make it do whatever it is what I needed. This code is obviously not useful for others and I wont share it. > > It would have been great to have a threaded kernel, there are > developer's I'm gathering around who wanted to change the TCP/IP stack > to make it higher performance, more like "Project FireEngine" under > Solaris 10. Why is it great to have a threaded kernel? I'll be more than happy to talk through the caching and scheduling implications of what you just said. And then we'll add another 14 arches to the argument. > > OpenBSD is an OS with amazing security and stability, but it has too > few modern features. You are talking about nebulous features that are over hyped and under proven. One needs a problem first before fixing it. You are putting it the wrong way around by saying "hey I'd like a super duper faster tcp/ip stack man!". Why? What problem are you solving? > > It would be great if developers also start working on improving the > features currently offered by OpenBSD. > Else, we would end up becoming the world's most secure OS which is > used by just a handful of us faithful users. And what makes you think we are not? This is such an insult; you are telling me what we have done in the past in our sparse free time is not worth it. OpenBSD is not after whizbang feature ZOMG. Also you are proposing what I should do with my time; how backwards is that? Speaking only for myself I write the code for my own pleasure. I give it away because it makes me happy. I don't owe you anything and fortunately you don't owe me anything either. We all benefit from my investment. A frequent complaint is that we don't listen to our user base. That is utterly false. We listen and we implement what we have time for and what makes sense (chances are we have thought through the problem domain; ever considered that?). A single person's need is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. If you need something you need to write it yourself. > > You might ask what right do I have for this rant, what am I doing for OpenBSD? Everyone has the right to rant but not everyone gets a vote. > Well I can't donate code directly as I'm a Java programmer and my C is > quite rusty (haven't coded in it in over 7 years). > But, yes, I do donate my time and money, indirectly, by recruiting > good C developers to the cause as well as buying stuff for core > developers off their wish lists. Donations are greatly appreciated and are used quite effectively. What a donation does not give you is a vote. Its a donation not a pay-for-feature. When you donate you essentially say "I trust developer X to do the right thing in this area". If you want a specific feature you can contact a developer off list and request it with some sort of incentive attached to it. Here is the thing you have to realize, if a feature doesn't make sense unpaid for, it still does not make sense when it is paid for. Silly features will not make it into the tree. > > Hope newer features get added, not that I'm unhappy with the OS (it > does almost everything I need an OS to do for me), but it would be > great if we had *more* smart developers and a wider base of good users > who get attracted to the OS for its robustness as well as feature-set. Newer features are always added. You keep saying that there are no new features ever added. If that was the case how well do you think the os would work on new hardware? Stop belittling the developers effort. > > Best, > > ~Mayuresh
