5 ms·

R.I.P. OpenSolaris

28 points by rpledge 16y ago

16s 16y ago
Nice article. The point he makes about Linux devs vastly outnumbering OpenSolaris devs is true for all of the free operating systems. Look at the CVS commits in OpenBSD. You can count on both hands the number of 'primary commiters' Thousands versus dozens makes a huge difference as does corporate involvement. I like all the free/open source operating systems, but I tend to go with GNU/Linux for this very reason.
- dedward 16y ago
  As a long-time user of Open/FreeBSD & Linux & solaris/opensolaris.... The point about # of devs is true - linux is the new nix reference platform (well, not new anymore I guess). It used to be SunOS/Solaris. OpenBSD has a small number of committers and developers more because of the attitude of it's community and head honcho - OpenBSD is fantastic at what it's fantastic at, but the developer community is very much "If you don't like the way we do it, F* off" (which is perfectly fine...no moral judgement implied). FreeBSD on the other hand doesn't get enough cred... it's solid, it's constantly incrementally improved. It's a single distribution with a very focused core - so while it doens't have all the fire and brimstone of linux, those FreeBSD guys have been cranking out solid, wonderful, well engineered and well documented code for a long, long time. I'm often on the brink of wishing I could switch an enterprise to FreeBSD completely - the commercial support isn't all there, but from a purist point of view it's pretty much THE best free *nix out there, and I'm never really sure why it doesn't get the same focus linux does - I suppose it's just the way things went and media hype about the GPL.
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    For starters, there is no FreeBSDBuntu, and Ubuntu has done wonders flying the flag for Linux.
    - cylinder714 16y ago
      I haven't used it, but PC-BSD looks like the "Ubuntu" BSD. http://www.pcbsd.org/ http://www.pcbsd.org/
Keyframe 16y ago
SunOS and later Solaris were my first real window into serious computing (along with IRIX). I'm kind of sad to see inevitable happening. It was a matter of time.
Maven911 16y ago
Now that Oracle has dumped it for good, I really hope that there is a resurgence of FOSS developers working on OpenSolaris to keep it alive and relevant...
- dedward 16y ago
  Which parts of it are really valuable to the FOSS community. The "zones" stuff is really only valuable for the big-iron systems, which you probably want/need support from Sun for anyway..... and if it's ZFS, the other big killer factor, FreeBSD is probably a better place to focus efforts than Solaris.
  - Maven911 16y ago
    I think theres benefits with having a diversified free OS environment, and I think there are other benefits to keeping something like OpenSolaris alive versus some of the smaller Linux distros...for instance, if OpenSolaris is still used by the community then maybe some of the Oracle/Sun engineers will help add features during their off-work hours spare time.
tzs 16y ago
OpenSolaris is GPLv3, according to the article. Those who want to save it might take advantage of that. Try to pitch it to the FSF as the logical choice for the GNU kernel, instead of HURD. Linux is GPLv2, not GPLv3, and there's no sign of that changing anytime soon, so it might be possible to interest the FSF on philosophical grounds to consider a replacement for Linux.
- wmf 16y ago
  All the good code is CDDL, which the FSF won't touch.
- mrb 16y ago
  The article is wrong. OpenSolaris was never released under GPLv3. It is under CDDL. The reference the article points to is an obscure blog from 2007 which is obviously wrong. http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/licensing http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/licensing
spudlyo 16y ago
I have mixed feelings about this. I absolutely loathe the old, buggy, incompatible Solaris userland, and for me, Solaris can't die fast enough. OpenSolaris however seemed like a step in the right direction, keep the kernel and all the good things that come with it (DTrace, ZFS, etc) but drop in the GNU userland. I'd much rather Oracle kill Solaris proper and work on pushing OpenSolaris forward.
- astine 16y ago
  Ditto. I have to use Solaris 10 at work and it's a pain to compile anything for it, especiallly anything that uses a GUI. ZFS is a very nifty tool and Solaris has a lot of neat features, but it's a pain to work with. I much prefere the Gnu toolchain.
kingnothing 16y ago
... And right as I was putting some serious thought into using OpenSolaris with ZFS for my home file server. I wonder what the future of Solaris is now, too.
- pan69 16y ago
  Me too. I was just about to pick this one up at the local book store. http://www.amazon.com/Solaris-ZFS-Essentials-Scott-Watanabe/dp/0137000103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279414152&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Solaris-ZFS-Essentials-Scott-Watanabe/... Anyone have an idea of whats going to happen to ZFS? (licence change?)
  - wmf 16y ago
    The future of Solaris looks the same as its past: proprietary and very expensive (but they'll throw it in free if you buy a Sun server running Oracle).

28 points by rpledge 16y ago

16s 16y ago

Nice article. The point he makes about Linux devs vastly outnumbering OpenSolaris devs is true for all of the free operating systems. Look at the CVS commits in OpenBSD. You can count on both hands the number of 'primary commiters' Thousands versus dozens makes a huge difference as does corporate involvement. I like all the free/open source operating systems, but I tend to go with GNU/Linux for this very reason.

dedward 16y ago
As a long-time user of Open/FreeBSD & Linux & solaris/opensolaris.... The point about # of devs is true - linux is the new nix reference platform (well, not new anymore I guess). It used to be SunOS/Solaris. OpenBSD has a small number of committers and developers more because of the attitude of it's community and head honcho - OpenBSD is fantastic at what it's fantastic at, but the developer community is very much "If you don't like the way we do it, F* off" (which is perfectly fine...no moral judgement implied). FreeBSD on the other hand doesn't get enough cred... it's solid, it's constantly incrementally improved. It's a single distribution with a very focused core - so while it doens't have all the fire and brimstone of linux, those FreeBSD guys have been cranking out solid, wonderful, well engineered and well documented code for a long, long time. I'm often on the brink of wishing I could switch an enterprise to FreeBSD completely - the commercial support isn't all there, but from a purist point of view it's pretty much THE best free *nix out there, and I'm never really sure why it doesn't get the same focus linux does - I suppose it's just the way things went and media hype about the GPL.
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  For starters, there is no FreeBSDBuntu, and Ubuntu has done wonders flying the flag for Linux.
  - cylinder714 16y ago
    I haven't used it, but PC-BSD looks like the "Ubuntu" BSD. http://www.pcbsd.org/ http://www.pcbsd.org/

Keyframe 16y ago

SunOS and later Solaris were my first real window into serious computing (along with IRIX). I'm kind of sad to see inevitable happening. It was a matter of time.

Maven911 16y ago

Now that Oracle has dumped it for good, I really hope that there is a resurgence of FOSS developers working on OpenSolaris to keep it alive and relevant...

dedward 16y ago
Which parts of it are really valuable to the FOSS community. The "zones" stuff is really only valuable for the big-iron systems, which you probably want/need support from Sun for anyway..... and if it's ZFS, the other big killer factor, FreeBSD is probably a better place to focus efforts than Solaris.
- Maven911 16y ago
  I think theres benefits with having a diversified free OS environment, and I think there are other benefits to keeping something like OpenSolaris alive versus some of the smaller Linux distros...for instance, if OpenSolaris is still used by the community then maybe some of the Oracle/Sun engineers will help add features during their off-work hours spare time.

tzs 16y ago

OpenSolaris is GPLv3, according to the article. Those who want to save it might take advantage of that. Try to pitch it to the FSF as the logical choice for the GNU kernel, instead of HURD. Linux is GPLv2, not GPLv3, and there's no sign of that changing anytime soon, so it might be possible to interest the FSF on philosophical grounds to consider a replacement for Linux.

wmf 16y ago
All the good code is CDDL, which the FSF won't touch.
mrb 16y ago
The article is wrong. OpenSolaris was never released under GPLv3. It is under CDDL. The reference the article points to is an obscure blog from 2007 which is obviously wrong. http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/licensing http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/licensing

spudlyo 16y ago

I have mixed feelings about this. I absolutely loathe the old, buggy, incompatible Solaris userland, and for me, Solaris can't die fast enough. OpenSolaris however seemed like a step in the right direction, keep the kernel and all the good things that come with it (DTrace, ZFS, etc) but drop in the GNU userland. I'd much rather Oracle kill Solaris proper and work on pushing OpenSolaris forward.

astine 16y ago
Ditto. I have to use Solaris 10 at work and it's a pain to compile anything for it, especiallly anything that uses a GUI. ZFS is a very nifty tool and Solaris has a lot of neat features, but it's a pain to work with. I much prefere the Gnu toolchain.

kingnothing 16y ago

... And right as I was putting some serious thought into using OpenSolaris with ZFS for my home file server. I wonder what the future of Solaris is now, too.

pan69 16y ago
Me too. I was just about to pick this one up at the local book store. http://www.amazon.com/Solaris-ZFS-Essentials-Scott-Watanabe/dp/0137000103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279414152&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Solaris-ZFS-Essentials-Scott-Watanabe/... Anyone have an idea of whats going to happen to ZFS? (licence change?)
- wmf 16y ago
  The future of Solaris looks the same as its past: proprietary and very expensive (but they'll throw it in free if you buy a Sun server running Oracle).