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- which was a more coordinated, well-defined release of an already-out-of-date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