[9fans] Oil on the water

[rob@plan9.bell-labs.com rob@plan9.bell-labs.com]

We are considering doing a new distribution of Plan 9, the system we
have been calling Brazil internally to distinguish it from the
released system.  It's not promised or even decided yet, but given the
recent discussions in 9fans it seems worthwhile to explain what we're
thinking about.

A release would focus on the PC version, but would probably include at
least the sources necessary to get another architecture going.  This
reduction in scope is partly because we have fewer variant machines
around these days and partly to shrink the size of the work and of the
distribution itself.

The main obstacle to a release is pragmatic: the work of putting
together a coherent package of hundreds of programs and the better
part of a million lines of code is not something to be undertaken
lightly.  There were several man-years of documentation work alone in
the last distribution.  We don't relish going through all that again.
Also, there are inevitable difficulties with distributing a bootable
OS that do not arise when distributing a single application.  As you
all well know, these were a major source of trouble with the last
distribution.

If we sent out the system as it stands now, the major benefit would
probably be a more up-to-date set of supported hardware.  We would
like to offer more.  We have a number of sweeping changes at all
levels of the system that we're discussing and, in some cases, already
working on.  If we defer those to distribute the system now, what we
ship will soon be obsolete and you will be only marginally better off
than you are now.  If we wait to get all those cool things done that
make a distribution worthwhile for all concerned, you'll have to wait
quite a while.  Discussions continue on how and when to proceed.
Meanwhile, the system improves.

We are aware of the complications caused by the overlap between Plan 9
(Brazil), a research system, and Inferno, a commercial product.  The
overlap is easy to characterize and we believe the issue can be
resolved.  The real barriers to release are, as mentioned, the work
involved and the questions of what and when to release.

Any release is likely to be done over the web, on a `fee-free basis
for noncommercial use' (that is, no $350 price tag).  However, the
necessity for negotiations for commercial use will almost certainly
remain.  There will probably be no CD or other artifact, to keep costs
down and simplify publication of updates.  Please don't get too
particular about licensing details now; it's far too early and out of
our (CS Research's) hands, in any case.

-rob