Subject: [FreeVMS] Re: gMach or Linux kernel ?
From: BERTRAND Joël (joel.k.bertrand@free.fr)
Date: Fri Oct 19 2001 - 14:29:32 CEST
roart@nvg.ntnu.no wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 18, 2001 at 12:40:21PM +0200, Magne Mæhre wrote:
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>roart@nvg.ntnu.no wrote (2001-10-18 11:44:15):
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>We've got to start somewhere.
>>>Starting from scratch is hard.
>>>
>>My experience is that you need to have something running
>>at the earliest possible stage, and make sure the code
>>is runnable through the entire project.
>>
>>I would, like others, suggest that we start with a Linux (or *BSD)
>>
>
> Probably Linux/PC, since the "most" uses that.
> Redhat seems to be what most developers "love"?
> Shall we go for 7.x, just to get it over with?
> (I am not running 7.x yet, though, but might soon be)
> Or at least decide which kernel to patch against? 2.4.x?
I don't know if we can start before Linus start the 2.5 serie...
But I think that the 2.4.13 (Linus-tree, because I think that Linus VM
is better than the ac or aa tree...) will be a good kernel.
>>system. The first major goals should be (IMHO) to provide a
>>subset of DCL *and* a Files-11/ODS-2 file system. To achieve this,
>>I think we should set some minor goals, including subsets of
>>LIB$, STR$ and a "proxy-SYS$" (as perhaps a wrapper around the
>>
>
> Some subsets of LIB$ and STR$ are already made.
I have seen that a subset of STR$ was written for the old Free-VMS
project, but I don't have these sources.
> But exactly who "we"?
> You, for instance?
> Not everyone here knows the fs nor do even have the fs book.
I don't know the VMS-fs, but I think that I can find all VMS
documentation since VMS 5.0 (I have at the ESME all docs about VAX-VMS).
> Will the fs demos be on the kernel-level or in userland (fs on large file)?
> (Userland testing might save time on reboots?)
In a first time, I think that a new filesystem must be tested in userland
on a little partition.
> What library bits do we need for certain?
>
> I am going to take a shot at logicals, and think I will do a lot of
> the development and testing in userland.
> So far I am digging up the structures and variables.
>
>
>>Linux system calls).
>>
>
> And what if you need new system calls?
>
> Seems the number of parameters in asm-i386/unistd.h goes only to 6
> (some VMS system calls has more than 10 parameters).
> Anyone who knows how to expand?
> (I don't know 386 assembly, and argument expansion is not intuitive as with
> some other CPUs)
Maybe with a stack pointer ? I don't think if it is a good solution, but
I have often used this solution...
> We may also need to copy spl (IPL) things from FreeBSD, since we need to
> "emulate" IPL, even though the PC does not have it.
I have seen in another post that a VAX-BootProm has been coded. Is it
possible to test this bootloader ? Can it be used with a standard linux
kernel ?
Regards,
JKB
PS : new call ;-) Does someone archive this mailing list ?
-- Liste de diffusion FreeVMS Pour se désinscrire : mailto:freevms-request@ml.free.fr?subject=unsubscribe
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Oct 24 2001 - 21:39:20 CEST