From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: 386BSD PARTIAL PATCH KIT NOW AVAILABLE
Date: 14 Sep 92 23:04:26 GMT
Organization: Weber State University  (Ogden, UT)

In article <TRI.92Sep15004041@phantom.hut.fi> Timo.Rinne@hut.fi writes:
>Would it be impossible to put all patched source files (not just
>diffs) available, maybe in tar format. Then we, who have hacked kernel
>to fit our needs could just cd to /usr/src and 'tar xvf'. Then just
>recompile patched parts of the system (kernel and a few system binaries).
>Much easier than sexy automatic patch installation systems, IMHO.

	I didn't know who would be unhappy about having their patches blown
away with new files.  This still has the following drawbacks:

1.	Requires centralized baselining.
2.	Large propagation delay between baselines.
3.	All patches are mandatory.
4.	No standard mechanism for determining patch level (in this case,
	which baseline a particular machine is currently at).
5.	Absolute file locations may not follow symbolic or real links
	(ie: I must replace both /src/sys/tty.h and /usr/include/sys/tty.h
	 if they are linked to each other).

Except for drawback #1, which I hope to work around, the patchkit software
currently gets around these problems.

The canonical alternative, of course, is to install fully patched sources,
which pretty much equates to installing 0.2 when it comes out.

My intent was to distribute the patches that I'm getting the majority of
mail on and to insure that the patch installation order is enforced.  This
will reduce my email significantly, and will get nearly everyone else up
to the functionality of the "hackers" systems.  This should also reduce
the "newbie" traffic on this group, which is basically why the hard core
BSD'ers are calling for a seperate group for the 386bsd types.

Since several of the patches are of questionable value (ie: some people
have reported worse performance with the patches installed), it seemed
best to find some way of making them optional, rather than forcing you
to trade one intermittent system crash caused by a bug for another
caused by a patch.

Since each of the patches in the patch kit is either a new file or a
context diff, you are, of course, free to apply them yourselves.  The
diffs have the full path name in them and are guaranteed to work with
the -c option and are not reversed (unlike many of them when originally
posted).  You can look at the "PATCH" file to find the name for any new
files created by each patch.

When I have put together all the patches I have (40, +/- 5), then I will
make a tar archive of the files for those people with blind faith in my
judgement.  8-).  Since I only have the first 19 patches done, and the
patchkit is "alpha" (HINT: DON'T INSTALL PATCHES 14 OR 16 YET!), I have
a ways to go.  Note that a "tarfile" for a "patchall" wouldn't necessarily
give you a choice of what printer driver you want to run, for instance.

This patchkit that I have put out in no way reflects changes that may or
may not be in the 0.2 code, nor does it necessarily agree with the "correct"
(according to the Jolitz's) view of what it purports to fix.  It does
reduce the number of "how do I install this patch and that patch at the
same time" questions that have been deluging me (apparently, I have high
visibility and have made the mistake of trying to answer my mail 8-)).  It
will also fix most of the problems most people have been having.

In any case, it's well worth the price (free).


					Terry Lambert
					terry_lambert@gateway.novell.com
					terry@icarus.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
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