193 lines
5.4 KiB
Text
193 lines
5.4 KiB
Text
.HTML "Plan 9 — Third Edition Release Notes
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.TL
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Plan 9 From Bell Labs
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.br
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Third Release Notes
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.br
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June 7, 2000
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.LP
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.sp -.4i
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.nf
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.ce 1000
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Copyright © 2000 Lucent Technologies Inc.
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All Rights Reserved
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.sp .2i
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.fi
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.LP
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The third release of the Plan 9 operating system from Bell Labs
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is something of a snapshot of the current system.
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This differs from the previous, 1995 release,
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which was a more coordinated, well-defined release of an already-out-of-date
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system.
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Also, the previous releases were distributed on fixed media, while this release
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is being done over the web.
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The other major difference is that the third release is licensed under
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an open source agreement, which we hope will encourage people
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to experiment with it.
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.LP
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Beyond that, there are innumerable little changes throughout the code.
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Although superficially it is the same environment, there is hardly an aspect
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of the system that has not been redesigned, rewritten, or replaced.
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The following is an incomplete list of changes.
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.de Xx
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.LP
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\(bu
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..
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.Xx
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The list of architectures has changed; more compilers are included
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and the list of kernels has changed.
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There is solid support for Intel x86 multiprocessors.
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Also, although the sources are available for
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other architectures, the binaries and libraries are built only for the
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Intel x86 architectures.
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Kernel source is available for x86, Mips, DEC Alpha, and Power PC architectures.
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Compilers also exist for AMD 29000, Motorola MC68000 and MC68020,
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Intel i960, and SPARC.
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(Unlike the the last release, no SPARC kernel exists for the current system.)
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The compilers and related tools
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have been made easier to port to Unix and Windows.
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.Xx
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The kernel now has a file cache to improve I/O performance.
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Other kernel changes include the replacement of the streams interface
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with a simpler, faster, but less flexible I/O queue structure.
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The x86 kernels support PCI and PCMCIA devices.
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.Xx
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Network management has been simplified and generalized.
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DNS supports a resolver mode and the DNS server is now solid.
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DHCP is supported both at the client and server ends.
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The system can handle multiple IP stacks, which are also
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no longer Ethernet-specific.
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.Xx
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The organization of disks in the kernel has been unified, providing
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a consistent interface to all disks and controllers: SCSI or ATAPI,
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magnetic or CD-ROM.
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.Xx
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File offsets, such as in the
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.CW seek
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system call, are now 64-bit values.
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The 1995 release defined the type
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.CW Length
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for the x86 as
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.P1
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typedef union
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{
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char clength[8];
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vlong vlength;
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struct
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{
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long hlength;
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long length;
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};
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} Length;
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.P2
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which is the wrong byte order.
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Now, for all architectures,
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.CW Length
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is well handled by a
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.CW vlong
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.CW long "" (
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.CW long )
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type, although for compatibility it's still held in a union:
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.P1
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typedef union
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{
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vlong length;
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} Length;
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.P2
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.Xx
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The kernel now maintains a file name associated with each open file or
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directory, which can be cheaply recovered by the
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.CW fd2path
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system call.
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Plan 9 now does a much better job with
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.CW ..
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(dot-dot).
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On a related note, a description of a process's name space may be
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read with the
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.CW ns
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file in
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.CW /proc ,
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or by the
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.CW ns
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command.
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.Xx
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The security model is the same, although
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the key format has changed.
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If you have an old key file, use
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.CW auth/convkeys2
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(see
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.I auth (8))
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to update it.
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There are new libraries for mulitprecision arithmetic and security.
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.Xx
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The graphics model is very different.
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It is based on the Porter-Duff compositing algebra rather than
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.CW bitblt ,
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and the system supports everything from bitmaps to true-color displays.
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Some of the graphics drivers exploit hardware acceleration.
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.Xx
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Coupled to the graphics changes, the image and font file formats have
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changed.
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They can represent a wider range of pixel formats and compress the data.
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Also the white/black sense of value is reversed (zero is now black; pixels
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represent light, not ink).
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Most of the tools can handle the old format, but they all write the new format only.
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.Xx
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The user interface now incorporates plumbing, a language-driven
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way for applications to communicate. See
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.I plumb (6)
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for information.
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.Xx
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Building on plumbing and a program that presents the mail box as a file
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system, Plan 9 now has convenient support for MIME mail messages.
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.Xx
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.CW 8½
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has been replaced by
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.CW rio ,
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which has a similar appearance but a different architecture.
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Although still a file server, it is much more efficient: the kernel driver
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multiplexes graphics output so
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.CW rio
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is not in the display path.
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.CW Rio
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handles input and window control only.
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.Xx
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PC booting is more sophisticated. PCs can now boot Plan 9 directly from
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the disk without running DOS.
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.Xx
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Alef is gone.
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It was deemed too difficult to maintain two sets of compilers and libraries
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for all architectures.
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Alef programs were translated into C, with the help of a new thread library
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that preserves much of Alef's functionality, but none of its syntax.
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.Xx
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Mothra is gone. There is no web browser included in this release,
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but something may well appear before long.
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.Xx
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The
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.CW fb
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(frame buffer) suite is gone. Most of its tools are
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supplanted by new ones, such as
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.CW page ,
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.CW jpg ,
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and
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.CW togif .
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.Xx
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Also gone from this release are the games and support for
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international input
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.CW ktrans "" (
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etc.).
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Both may return.
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.Xx
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New things include an implementation of
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.CW ssh ,
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an IMAP4 server,
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and some spam-filtering software (see
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.I scanmail (8)).
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.LP
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There's lots more.
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If you have problems, mail
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.CW 9trouble@plan9.bell-labs.com .
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Please don't mail us individually.
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.LP
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Good Luck!
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