I’ve started a project in anticipation of the upcoming release of OpenSolaris called ZoneBSD. The goal of the project will be to factor as much code from OpenSolaris as necessary into FreeBSD in order to support running FreeBSD from within a Solaris Zone, allowing virtualized FreeBSD instances to be run atop a host instance of Solaris.
From what I’ve read, the Sun and the CDDL provides a body of patents for OpenSolaris that keeps OpenSolaris very well protected, but you would need to read up on the literature and double-check how to incorporate CDDL code into other projects. Proponents of the CDDL do say that licenses can be mixed, but I’m not an expert on the details of this.
I know a lot of GPL trolls will come out of the woodwork on this one, but all indications are that the CDDL is not as bad as they will say it is. You just need to make sure you are smart about how to progress with your project, as always.
Replying to myself: I just saw on your FAQ that you feel the CDDL is compatible with the BSD license, so my question above isn’t as relevant. In that case, just ignore all the inevitable troll posts below.
Sounds like a good idea to insure BSD’s survival.
Though I personally think it would be better to atleast enhance BSD technologies to the level where they rival Linux such as: smpNG, KSE, etc.
What Bascule is proposing and improving SMP/KSE are not mutually exclusive.
Doesn’t make sense I like BSD and all but can’t see why you would want to do this let alone dedicate an entire website to the endeavour.
What? BSDs survival does NOT depend on it being able to run as many instances under OpenSolaris, I don’t know who or what gave you that idea.
As for the project, I like it, hope it comes to fruition. All the best Bascule!
So basically this is the FreeBSD userland on the Solaris kernel?
I wonder if they’re planning to add a BSD syscall emulation layer to Solaris (which should be able to follow the path laid by Janus) or if they’re going to port FreeBSD’s libraries to run on Solaris.
Given that netBSD is more portable, OpenBSD more secure, and FreeBSD more application-friendly, and all more license-friendly than Solaris has and ever will be, I would rather run Solaris in a BSD userland instead of other other way around.
There has been quite a discussion on the OpenBSD mailing lists
about the CDDL licencing vs compatibility with the BSD licence.
Simply put: most disagree, so some serious investigation into the matter might be a good idea.
If they port OpenSolaris to Xen, we could see NetBSD, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Linux all coexisting happily, running at nearly native speed.
Sounds good. Anytime a situation presents itself to increase the influence an OS has, well all the better (ie. being able to run in more areas).
However, getting an inroad into “Solaris” only barely qualifies. There are “many” companies out there running it I guess. But I doubt anyone would suggest that businesses are burning the road up to get a copy.
That being said, if you want to code it, I applaud you. Knock yourself out.
Doesn’t BSD already have a very similar tech. – BSD jails.
I’ve heard there preformance differences but thats all…?
So basically this is the FreeBSD userland on the Solaris kernel?
Basically. It will require modifying the Solaris kernel and incorporating source code from FreeBSD.
I wonder if they’re planning to add a BSD syscall emulation layer to Solaris (which should be able to follow the path laid by Janus) or if they’re going to port FreeBSD’s libraries to run on Solaris.
Either of these are possabilities, however the former was the approach being considered as the real goal should be to provide binary compatibility with existing FreeBSD binaries for x86/x64 or sparc/sparc64. The ultimate goal would be a replacement drop-in kernel/module which would be able to execute a FreeBSD userland within a Zone.
Zones are remarkably similar to jails, however they are substantially more developed and featureful, especially when used in conjunction with the Fair Share Scheduler. Jails don’t provide any sort of resource partitioning, so it’s possible for one jail to monopolize all system resources.