NetBSD-Announce archive

Announcing the NetBSD Port Tier System

To : netbsd-announce%NetBSD.org@localhost

: Subject : Announcing the NetBSD Port Tier System

: From : Antti Kantee <pooka%NetBSD.org@localhost>

: Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:34:36 +0300

Dear Users of NetBSD, When the NetBSD project was conceived almost two decades ago, the hardware scene was different than today. There was a multitude of hardware available for running Unix-like operating systems, and as a key point all hardware had roughly equal capabilities. The only sensible choice at that time was to embrace portability. NetBSD got portability correct from the start, and other projects followed in NetBSD's footsteps only years later. Fast-forwarding to the present day, portability is still of paramount importance to an operating system. However, the thing that has changed is that hardware no longer has roughly equal capabilities: new hardware with new capabilities and requirements is constantly being developed, while old hardware remains the same. Historically, in NetBSD it has been seen that it is the responsibility of a developer implementing new features to make sure all ports are up-to-date and working after the change. This responsibility constitutes a sizable effort in cases like rearchitecting the kernel to support modern locking and multiprocessor features, or during a new toolchain import. Effective immediately, the project is instating a three-level port tier system which separates industrially relevant high-activity ports for modern hardware from the rest. Focus ports receive official development priority while the maintenance of other platforms is made the responsibility of the people using them. This will allow NetBSD to more efficiently stay on the cutting edge of the server, embedded and desktop systems of today and tomorrow. In no way does this mean that NetBSD is abandoning support for old hardware. Support for ports such as vax, mac68k and pmax is still more than welcome. However, users of such ports are asked to take a more active role in development, maintenance and feedback for the platforms they know and love. A port's tier is decided by the core team based on input from users and developers. The tier may change both up and down due to the activity level of user/developer community and the current relevance of the hardware supported by the port. The official up-to-date list is always available at: http://www.NetBSD.org/ports/ For reading convenience, the current port tier ranking along with the implications of the tiers is also presented below. Tier I: Focus -- support is part of NetBSD's strategy * modern server, embedded and desktop hardware * machine independent (MI) changes should benefit these ports * MI changes must be tested on at least one of these ports * it is the developer's responsibility to implement machine dependent (MD) support necessary for changes, fix build problems and aid in debugging with any platform-specific problems * even within a port, common sense should be used (cf. the i386 port which still supports 486) * regressions in the automated NetBSD test suite (/usr/tests) are not allowed Ports: amd64 evbarm evbmips evbppc hpcarm i386 sparc64 xen CPUs: arm i386 mips powerpc sparc64 x86_64 Tier II: Organic -- evolving at its own pace * dated hardware or low community activity * generally speaking, the port boots and works, but keeping it working is the responsibility of the user community + this includes, but is not limited to, kernel changes and toolchain upgrades * developers committing MI changes are still encouraged to keep ports up-to-date when it can be easily done * MI architecture decisions may penalize organic ports if there is a benefit for focus ports * if the port is not working at release time, a release is done without the port and the port is moved down to the life support tier Ports: acorn26 acorn32 algor alpha amiga amigappc arc atari bebox cats cesfic cobalt dreamcast emips evbsh3 ews4800mips hp300 hp700 hpcmips hpcsh ia64 ibmnws iyonix landisk luna68k mac68k macppc mipsco mmeye mvme68k mvmeppc netwinder news68k newsmips next68k ofppc pmax prep rs6000 sandpoint sbmips sgimips sh3 shark sparc sun2 sun3 sun68k vax x68k zaurus CPUs: alpha arm hppa m68010 m68k mips powerpc sh3 sparc vax Tier III: Life support -- severely incapacitated or broken * organic ports get moved here if they do not complete a build for 6 months or are otherwise suspected to be broken * it is the responsibility of the users of a organic port to show it is working, not the other way around * movement to life support causes a mail to be sent out to the port mailing list and the portmaster * port will be bumped up to organic when it is shown to be working * if the port is not reported fixed within the next 6-12 months, it will be moved to the Attic Ports: currently none - The Core Team