[ogb-discuss] RFC: Emancipation Community

[John Plocher]

John Sonnenschein wrote:
> I suppose for an intial list of contributors, Jason King ( jbk ) ,
> Steve Stallion ( stallion ), Roland Mainz ( gisburn ), and myself,
> John Sonnenschein ( error404 ).

+1 from me for making an emancipation CG umbrella for this
set of emancipation related projects.

I'd also like to suggest that, if he is interested, Joerg
Schilling also be considered as a contributer, since he has
significant experience and passion about this subject.

Please consider a psuedo-formal charter for the CG - maybe
something along the lines of

CG Problem statement

     The OpenSolaris operating system is not completely open
     because several components that are required to build and
     boot the OS are only available in the "closed bin" archives.

Scope:
    Initially, the focus will be on selected high-value efforts,
    such as self-hosting an Open ON, drivers, posix utils, but
    the long range intent is to eliminate the need for (and use
    of) the closed bin archives.

Goals/milestones:

     Quarterly progress reports will be produced and sent to the
     OS-announce alias to keep the larger community informed of
     our progress.

     Phase 0a: Replace the components needed to build and boot
               the ON consolidation with whatever shims, hacks
               and scaffolding is needed to produce a proof of
               concept that self-hosts and boots.

     Phase 0b: Do the same for userland and the utilities.

     Repeat phase 0 substeps as needed until a clear understanding
     of the task at hand is reached.

     Phase 1:  Determine the best way to replace the above hacks
	      with a permanent solution, including decision
	      making architectural and design guidelines that
	      can be used in similar situations elsewhere in
	      the emancipation effort (i.e., should we reuse
	      from some particular other open OS, roll our own,
	      do without; what makes a good -vs- poor choice,
	      how do we choose without causing unnecessary
	      strife, ...?   [hint: this is where ARC interaction
	      is probably very useful]

     Phase 2:  Develop and push the changes prototyped in phase
	      0 and formalized in phase 1 into the ON (and other)
	      consolidation(s) and remove the associated closed
	      bin pieces.

     Phase 3:  Repeat phases 0,1 and 2 for the rest of the closed-bin
	      items.

     Phase 4:  Disband the CG, its job being completed.



   -John