Transcript Open-Source Software (OSS) and Linux

Open-Source Software (OSS)
and Linux
Feb. 25, 2008
by
Larry Finger
Open Source Projects
Many hundreds of such projects
Examples:
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Linux Kernel
Picasa
Open Office
Firefox
KDE or Gnome Desktops
gcc – system compiler
Quotes about OSS
“The OSS is a meritocracy. If you are the chairman of IBM and
you submit a patch to the kernel or KDE that is rubbish, they
will tell you. They don't care who you are, how much
experience you have, or how nice a guy you are... Your code is
judged on its merit rather than on you.”
Mike Arthur on his blog at mikearthur.co.uk.
“The Vista flop is completely predictable. There is a scale
regime above which closed-source development is
unsustainable as the ratio between productive work and
complexity-management overhead rises. Microsoft was bound
to reach it; the only question was when.”
Eric S. Raymond in Linux Journal, Jan. 2008.
OSS – How does it work?
1.There will be some variation by project, but
generally there are gatekeepers to prevent chaos a few people that have absolute control over what
proposed changes are included.
2.Each major subsection will have its own
gatekeeper(s) – a hierarchy of gatekeepers.
3.Contributors find and report bugs, propose new
functionality, and prepare patches or fixes, which
are circulated on the mailing list of the project.
Once all criticisms are satisfied and the patch has
been tested, then it becomes a candidate for
inclusion.
Organization of Linux Kernel
Development
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Gatekeepers are Linus Torvalds and Andrew
Morton. Under them there are “maintainers” for
major sections such as networking, file systems,
etc.
Networking (for example) has maintainers for each
major type of networking. One of these handles
wireless. Under him is a maintainer for each of the
supported devices.
For the Broadcom wireless drivers, there are three
drivers. One of these is obsolete and will be
removed in 2.6.26, thus there are two maintainers.
One handles the really old devices, the other has
newer models. There are 50-100 people that are
active in testing, etc.
Kernel Development Cycle
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Once a new kernel is released, the introduction of
new functionality is started. This process lasts for
roughly two weeks. When it ends, new features can
no longer be introduced. Only bug fixes are
allowed.
At this point, kernel 2.6.x-rc1 (rc means release
candidate) is released. Fixes are applied for 1-2
weeks, then -rc2 is released, etc.
Most kernel versions go up to -rc7 or -rc8. When
Linus is satisfied, then the new version is released,
and the process starts over.
Current development version is 2.6.25-rc3. The
current stable version is 2.6.24.1.
OSS – Who Participates?
Most Active Contributors to Linux 2.6.23 => 2.6.24
Kernel by Employer. Total of 790,000 (of ~9,000,000)
lines of code were changed.
(None)
(Unknown)
Intel
Red Hat
IBM
Linutronix
Novell
Movial
Freescale
Analog Devices
MIPS Technologies
SWsoft
Linux Foundation
18.0%
15.5%
14.7%
7.5%
6.6%
6.1%
3.8%
2.4%
1.9%
1.9%
1.5%
1.1%
1.0%
What is Linux?
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Linux is an open-source operating system. The components
are the kernel (including device drivers), a windowing
system and desktop, utilities, user programs, and installation
and update methods.
The results of packaging of above components is a
distribution, or distro for short.
Distros include openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian,
Gentoo, Puppy Linux, and many more.
Some are designed only for “live” operation, others for disk
installation, with a few that can do either.
Linux runs on many computer architectures including i386,
x86_64, itanium, m68000, ppc, ppc64, alpha, arm, mips,
sparc, sparc64, s390, and many others.
Symmetric multi-processing is well supported.
Linux Advantages
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No cost unless you want support, or want to buy rather
than download the CD or DVD.
Secure – good separation between system and users.
Efficient – will run on I386 at 25 MHz with 64 MB RAM.
Good usage of multiple CPUs and full 64-bit support.
Better support for old hardware.
Many File Systems – pick best for your usage.
System evolves more continuously than Windows. The
kernel is updated 3-4 times per year. Distros update
once per year.
Stable applications interface.
Single root for file system – no drive letters like C:, etc.
Linux Disadvantages
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On most computers, you have to buy
Windows anyway.
Drivers for very new hardware may not be
available.
Some hardware (winmodem, winprinter) only
works with Windows.
Not all software available, particularly closed
source programs.
Higher “geekiness” level, but improving.
Major differences in system file layout
between distros. It can be hard to switch.
Truth in Advertising??
From Staples Ad in Yuma Sun on Feb. 24, 2008
Linux File System Names
On my system, I have 3 data partitions. On Windows,
these would be C:, D:, and E:. With Linux, one of
these has the root of the file system and is mounted at
“/”. Files for the super-user are on this partition at
/root/... A second partition has the user files and is
mounted at “/home”. The path for my files is
/home/finger/... The third partition has the NTFS file
system for Windows. The path for the “Documents and
Settings” folder is “/windows/C/Documents and
Settings”.
When I plug my thumb drive into a USB slot, the files
automatically become available with a path of
/media/disk/...
Do Not Login as Super-user
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My Linux KDE Desktop
openSUSE Chameleon = Start
a
Utility like “Control Panel”
a
Must Enter Super-user Password
a
NetworkManager Applet
If You Need to Run Windows Programs
Use a Virtual Machine
Advantages of Virtual Machine
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Host and Guest can be Linux or Windows
No repartitioning of host disk.
Easy to try different distros.
Benefits of “live” demo, but ability to save
files.
Dynamic disk storage.
Simple hardware – no driver worries.
No need to burn CD's – run from “iso” image.
Off-Topic: Vista SP1 Problems
Programs that will not start or run, or lose
functionality after Vista SP1 is installed
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BitDefender AV or Internet Security
Fujitsu Shock Center
Jiangmin KV Antivirus
Trend Micro Internet Security
Zone Alarm Security Suite
Iron Speed Designer
Xheo Licensing
Free Allegiance
NYT Reader
Rising Personal Firewall
Novell ZCM Agent
References
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Download Locations:
openSUSE – en.opensuse.org
Fedora - fedoraproject.org
Ubuntu - ubuntu.org (Ubuntu uses Gnome desktop,
Kubuntu uses KDE, and Xubuntu uses the Xfce
desktop)
VirtualBox – virtualbox.org
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Vista SP1 Problems
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/935796
Final Section
The rest of this presentation will be a live
demonstration of openSUSE 10.3 on a virtual
machine running under Windows. Using this
method, it is possible to investigate Linux
without messing with your Windows setup.