Ants5.64 - Hypercubic Time Warp All-go-rhythmic Synchrony

[mycroftiv@sphericalharmony.com]

https://files.9gridchan.org/9ants5.64.iso.gz
https://doc.9gridchan.org/blog/191221.hypercubic.release

Latest ANTS is based on 9front revision 7512.  Thanks Cinap and
everyone who has contributed so much work and improvement to Plan 9 in
the form of 9front.  This release of ANTS is an attempt to make the
best version of Plan 9 I can, with numerous changes to base 9front
that I regard as improvements.

- The installer configures either hostowner-only cpu/drawterm access, 
   or a full standard auth+cpu server.
- Fossil + Venti root file system option in installer
- An expansion of the early boot namespace to a fully self-sufficient 
   environment with no root fs
- Additional methods of rootfs acquisition and parameterization of 
   defauit boot behaviors
- rfork V into ndependent /srv patterned on the behavior of /env, 
   with #z /zrv as global srv.
- writable /proc/pid/ns to enable interprocess namespace manipilation
- hubfs 9p bytestream multiplexer, grio custom rio with hubfs integration
- venti/fossil management tooling for replication of venti blocks and 
   fossil rootscores between systems
- scripts used by the public grid and spawngrid projects
- additional software and tools from other developers (who incidentally 
   are not necessarily in agreement with me about anything in particular 
   and shouldnt be blamed for anything I say or do)
- reworked and updated ports of hugs, pforth, and 
   several interactive fiction players and languages.

This release of ants also continues the "outsider software art
project" aspects of my work, including a lot of experimental code from
2019 and the Purplechess game.  I am intending to refocus my work on
the mathematical research aspects of coding, especially how to bring
the latest ideas from constructive mathematics and dependent typed
programming into Plan 9.

The distinctive features of ants that I find useful personally have so
far failed to gain a community of active users - so far as I can know,
there isn't anyone who has actually adopted the "ants model" of how to
set up and work with a set of Plan 9 systems.  There are some people
who use ANTS, but- please correct me if I'm wrong - the kernel-level
modifications and architectural ideas aren't being relied on, standard
9front would work just as well, without the hassles of the two-layer
update process of base 9front and ants mods, and my flakiness at
staying up to date.

As a result, I expect this to be the last "9front quasi-fork" release
of ants.  I don't feel like I am actually helping either users or the
9front development team very much with the alternative that I am
presenting.  I will continue to maintain my software and develop it
and new tools, but barring a sudden groundswell of demand for the
current format of ANTS, this will most likely be the final "just like
9front, but with more features" iso release.

Partly as a result of this shift in perspective, this iso release is
packed full of additional materials that fit more in the category of
"software art" than anything else.  They do not interfere with the
standard operation of the system, but if you go exploring, there is a
lot to be found. 2019 was an amazing year for me.

Be excellent to each other,
-mycroftiv