Re: DragonFlyBSD / 386BSD 1.0 - modularity

[David Leimbach <dleimbac@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 8/1/05, Alex Burke <alexjeffburke@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have been reading up allot on the history of BSD based operating
> systems, and I know that Net/FreeBSDs came from 386BSD 0.1 (based
> heavily on 4.3 Net/2 tape with missing files replaced) with patch kits
> applied.
> 
> As I understand it, 386BSD 1.0 was the continuation of 0.1 but with
> the kernel modularized. Since I have read that DragonFlyBSD aims to
> eventually try to run large components (such as VFS) in user land, I
> was wondering whether conceptually they are at all similar? What is
> the eventual aim of DragonFlyBSD and userland services?

Perhaps asking on the DragonFlyBSD lists would yield better results? :)

> 
> I realise that this might seem stupid question since the code has
> changed so much (4.4BSD-Lite code integrated, VM system...etc) but I
> guess this is my attempt to try to understand things better, hopefully
> with the aim of one day being able to help in some form.
> 
> I also wanted to ask if anybody knew any good books about the
> architecture of BSD systems that can be read by someone no already
> knowledgeable about kernel design.
> 

The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System is a
great book for that.

As is The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System.

Perhaps Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum would be useful for
people just starting on understanding the role of a kernel in general.
 [could be very expensive though as it's used as a college textbook
and the price is therefore inflated to ridiculous amounts]

Dave

> Thanks in advance, Alex J Burke
> 
>