[cobalt-users] Re: Getting the source to Cobalt updates

[Chris Adams <cmadams@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Once upon a time, Bruce Timberlake <Bruce.Timberlake@xxxxxxx> said:
> Chris Adams wrote:
> > Where can I download the sources for the kernels in the RaQ3 updates
> > RaQ3-All-Kernel-4.0.1.216C28III.pkg 
> 
> ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/kernel/old
> 
> > and RaQ3-All-Kernel-4.0.1-2.2.16C32III-4.pkg
> 
> ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/kernel/gen_III

Thanks!  I hadn't been to the old cobaltnet site in a long time and
forgot about it.

> > I complained before about Cobalt not following the GPL and making
> > sources available and they made a half-hearted attempt for a couple of
> > weeks, but nothing really changed.  I'm not about to pay Sun just to ask
> > them to release the sources (as _required_ by the license).  Every time
> > an update is released, the source needs to be released as well.
> 
> They actually are; there just isn't a coordinated place to put them, so you
> have to look around at a couple of different servers.

I don't see sources for GPL things other than the kernel right off for
example. :-)

> But all that is changing, starting "now," (actually a few weeks ago) and
> continuing into the near future until it's completed.  Soon, from what I've
> been told to date, ftp://ftp.cobalt.sun.com will be the one official FTP
> download site for all things Cobalt-related.  The hodgepodge of servers we
> ran as Cobalt Networks are all being consolidated, and we actually have a
> new technical resource (a former Cobalt SE like myself) in the Product
> Management team who has as a main job description item to bring some sort
> of order to the entire system.

What I'd _really_ like to see is the actual source RPMs for the stuff
that is Open Source (I understand that some stuff like the bandwidth
module is Cobalt close source).

In my case, the kernel SRPM would be _very_ useful.  The difference
between the two above kernels is a LOT more than just the simple
security fix, including a bunch of changes to the eepro100 driver (which
has always been a tempermental driver in Linux due to Intel's policies).
I suspect that Cobalt/Sun doesn't have a test setup like my real-world
network that had problems, so my problems weren't seen.

If I had the kernel SRPM, I could add a rev that just rolls back the
eepro100 changes (or, if I wanted to start with the "works for me"
kernel, I could just add the security fix).

> I apologize for the confusion and problems you had trying to find the
> kernel sources, and have already passed this on to the relevant "decision
> makers."

In an ideal world (hah!), there'd be a directory tree like:

raq3/RaQ3-All-Kernel-4.0.1.216C28III/kernel-2.2.16C28_III-2.src.rpm
raq3/RaQ3-All-Kernel-4.0.1-2.2.16C32III-4/kernel-2.2.16C32_III-2.src.rpm

containing all the corresponding source RPMs to go with the Cobalt
packaged binary RPMs.
-- 
Chris Adams <cmadams@xxxxxxxxxx>
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.