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  1. .TL
  2. Plan 9 From Bell Labs
  3. .br
  4. Third Release Notes
  5. .br
  6. June 7, 2000
  7. .LP
  8. .sp -.4i
  9. .nf
  10. .ce 1000
  11. Copyright © 2000 Lucent Technologies Inc.
  12. All Rights Reserved
  13. .sp .2i
  14. .fi
  15. .LP
  16. The third release of the Plan 9 operating system from Bell Labs
  17. is something of a snapshot of the current system.
  18. This differs from the previous, 1995 release,
  19. which was a more coordinated, well-defined release of an already-out-of-date
  20. system.
  21. Also, the previous releases were distributed on fixed media, while this release
  22. is being done over the web.
  23. The other major difference is that the third release is licensed under
  24. an open source agreement, which we hope will encourage people
  25. to experiment with it.
  26. .LP
  27. Beyond that, there are innumerable little changes throughout the code.
  28. Although superficially it is the same environment, there is hardly an aspect
  29. of the system that has not been redesigned, rewritten, or replaced.
  30. The following is an incomplete list of changes.
  31. .de Xx
  32. .LP
  33. \(bu
  34. ..
  35. .Xx
  36. The list of architectures has changed; more compilers are included
  37. and the list of kernels has changed.
  38. There is solid support for Intel x86 multiprocessors.
  39. Also, although the sources are available for
  40. other architectures, the binaries and libraries are built only for the
  41. Intel x86 architectures.
  42. Kernel source is available for x86, Mips, DEC Alpha, and Power PC architectures.
  43. Compilers also exist for AMD 29000, Motorola MC68000 and MC68020,
  44. Intel i960, and SPARC.
  45. (Unlike the the last release, no SPARC kernel exists for the current system.)
  46. The compilers and related tools
  47. have been made easier to port to Unix and Windows.
  48. .Xx
  49. The kernel now has a file cache to improve I/O performance.
  50. Other kernel changes include the replacement of the streams interface
  51. with a simpler, faster, but less flexible I/O queue structure.
  52. The x86 kernels support PCI and PCMCIA devices.
  53. .Xx
  54. Network management has been simplified and generalized.
  55. DNS supports a resolver mode and the DNS server is now solid.
  56. DHCP is supported both at the client and server ends.
  57. The system can handle multiple IP stacks, which are also
  58. no longer Ethernet-specific.
  59. .Xx
  60. The organization of disks in the kernel has been unified, providing
  61. a consistent interface to all disks and controllers: SCSI or ATAPI,
  62. magnetic or CD-ROM.
  63. .Xx
  64. File offsets, such as in the
  65. .CW seek
  66. system call, are now 64-bit values.
  67. The 1995 release defined the type
  68. .CW Length
  69. for the x86 as
  70. .P1
  71. typedef union
  72. {
  73. char clength[8];
  74. vlong vlength;
  75. struct
  76. {
  77. long hlength;
  78. long length;
  79. };
  80. } Length;
  81. .P2
  82. which is the wrong byte order.
  83. Now, for all architectures,
  84. .CW Length
  85. is well handled by a
  86. .CW vlong
  87. .CW long "" (
  88. .CW long )
  89. type, although for compatibility it's still held in a union:
  90. .P1
  91. typedef union
  92. {
  93. vlong length;
  94. } Length;
  95. .P2
  96. .Xx
  97. The kernel now maintains a file name associated with each open file or
  98. directory, which can be cheaply recovered by the
  99. .CW fd2path
  100. system call.
  101. Plan 9 now does a much better job with
  102. .CW ..
  103. (dot-dot).
  104. On a related note, a description of a process's name space may be
  105. read with the
  106. .CW ns
  107. file in
  108. .CW /proc ,
  109. or by the
  110. .CW ns
  111. command.
  112. .Xx
  113. The security model is the same, although
  114. the key format has changed.
  115. If you have an old key file, use
  116. .CW auth/convkeys2
  117. (see
  118. .I auth (8))
  119. to update it.
  120. There are new libraries for mulitprecision arithmetic and security.
  121. .Xx
  122. The graphics model is very different.
  123. It is based on the Porter-Duff compositing algebra rather than
  124. .CW bitblt ,
  125. and the system supports everything from bitmaps to true-color displays.
  126. Some of the graphics drivers exploit hardware acceleration.
  127. .Xx
  128. Coupled to the graphics changes, the image and font file formats have
  129. changed.
  130. They can represent a wider range of pixel formats and compress the data.
  131. Also the white/black sense of value is reversed (zero is now black; pixels
  132. represent light, not ink).
  133. Most of the tools can handle the old format, but they all write the new format only.
  134. .Xx
  135. The user interface now incorporates plumbing, a language-driven
  136. way for applications to communicate. See
  137. .I plumb (6)
  138. for information.
  139. .Xx
  140. Building on plumbing and a program that presents the mail box as a file
  141. system, Plan 9 now has convenient support for MIME mail messages.
  142. .Xx
  143. .CW 8½
  144. has been replaced by
  145. .CW rio ,
  146. which has a similar appearance but a different architecture.
  147. Although still a file server, it is much more efficient: the kernel driver
  148. multiplexes graphics output so
  149. .CW rio
  150. is not in the display path.
  151. .CW Rio
  152. handles input and window control only.
  153. .Xx
  154. PC booting is more sophisticated. PCs can now boot Plan 9 directly from
  155. the disk without running DOS.
  156. .Xx
  157. Alef is gone.
  158. It was deemed too difficult to maintain two sets of compilers and libraries
  159. for all architectures.
  160. Alef programs were translated into C, with the help of a new thread library
  161. that preserves much of Alef's functionality, but none of its syntax.
  162. .Xx
  163. Mothra is gone. There is no web browser included in this release,
  164. but something may well appear before long.
  165. .Xx
  166. The
  167. .CW fb
  168. (frame buffer) suite is gone. Most of its tools are
  169. supplanted by new ones, such as
  170. .CW page ,
  171. .CW jpg ,
  172. and
  173. .CW togif .
  174. .Xx
  175. Also gone from this release are the games and support for
  176. international input
  177. .CW ktrans "" (
  178. etc.).
  179. Both may return.
  180. .Xx
  181. New things include an implementation of
  182. .CW ssh ,
  183. an IMAP4 server,
  184. and some spam-filtering software (see
  185. .I scanmail (8)).
  186. .LP
  187. There's lots more.
  188. If you have problems, mail
  189. .CW 9trouble@plan9.bell-labs.com .
  190. Please don't mail us individually.
  191. .LP
  192. Good Luck!