⚠ This page contains old, outdated, obsolete, … historic or WIP content! No warranties e.g. for correctness!
Old Weblog
- From the beginning to December 2002 after the first BSD-mirabilos snapshot ever (derived from OpenBSD-current-mirabilos) has been uploaded to the world wide web
- From December 2002 to January 2003 starting with release of MirBSD Snapshot #1
- February of 2002, starting with release of MirBSD Snapshot #2 RC4=RELEASE, a fully static a.out system with exec-ELF capability. Ending with a working, self-hosted, ELF system.
- From March 2003 to mid of April 2003 starting with release of MirBSD/i386 Snapshot #3.
- From Easter 2003 to Pentecost 2003 starting with preparations to release (CVS Tag: MIRBSD_4) MirBSD#4
- From mid-June 2003 to LinuxTag 2003 starting with the greatest release ever (CVS Tag: MIRBSD_5) of the MirBSD #5 (interim) codebase. Read the archived [a href="/historic/ann-5.htm"] release announcement for details.
- From LinuxTag 2003 to Autumn 2003 starting with the internal completion of the LinuxTag Special Edition of MirBSD, only available for visitors at the cost of 10 Euro.
- From Autumn 2003 to 22C3 (2005) the seemingly endless weblog during the lifetime of the #7 release.
- Starting at 22C3 to FrOSCon 2006, the life of MirOS #8 ended exactly half a year (plus two days to recover) after its surprising, impressive, release.
- Starting at FrOSCon 2006 to mid of March 2008, MirOS #9-current revived the sparc architecture, thus making MirOS one of the best supported operating systems for the 32-bit sparc machines, since other operating systems dropped support for them, and, apparently, “the” reference implementation of X11 in the flavour XFree86®, for the same reason. Also, internationalisation was started, Unicode is now supported, and the overall system became more stable and reliable, less surprising, lacking only in synchronisation with more recent device driver support.
For the current developers' weblog, please refer to the weblog past MirOS BSD #10 starting mid-March 2008.
Old News
- More recent MirOS oldnews
- 06.04.2006
The Ada and GCJ compilers are no longer delivered with MirOS-current. Users who require them must now build these drivers manually by changing /etc/make.cfg and building the "gcc" module. Note: GNAT (the Ada compiler of GCC) requires itself to be built (you can pull it from an older snapshot or #8-stable). - 29.03.2006
We've added a new server to the Freeforge IRC network. You can either directly connect to that server or the round-robin, irc.mirbsd.org. Note: this server does have IPv6 connectivity, however it's only a SixXS over ADSL (consumer line) connection, so don't overload it. - 19.03.2006
We've added a new server to the Freeforge IRC network. You can either directly connect to that server or the round-robin, irc.mirbsd.org. We sit on channel #mirbsd like before. - gzsig(1) keys have switched; the new one can be found in CAcert-signed PEM format as well.
- 01.03.2006
Again success building a cross-compiler to i386 Debian GNU/Linux from MirOS (tested with printf(1) because GNU libc is an ugly piece of shit unable to build mksh(1) sh(1) date(1) etc.) but this time with GCC 3.4.6 and --with-sysroot. - 26.02.2006
The MirOS Project glances by appearance at FOSDEM 2006 and sells T-Shirts and CD-Rs of the latest snapshot which also has an upgraded OpenSSH. - 21.02.2006
Improvements and bug fixes in the randomness area; the arc4random_add(3) function finally works as designed. PHP contains SQLite2; Midnight Commander has been updated after 3 years. ssh(1) was updated to OpenSSH-current and the code was cleaned up. Compat ports were fixed as well as bugs in the package upgrader. Keys for vnconfig(8) can now be stored in an external file. Access logs for httpd(8) are now stored in a different format displaying SSL infos (whether SSL was used and which crypto suite chosen). - 15.02.2006
There is a new snapshot with all the features below (attention: ssh/scp(1) is not updated regarding CVE-2006-0225 yet). There is also a new repo seed. Ports of this snapshot are not used to update #8 because the overall quality is in an unknown state. - 30.01.2006
We now have an iconv(3) implementation by Citrus (from NetBSD®) in the base system, used by lynx(1). There is also an nl_langinfo(CODESET) now which works.
Switched to use mmap(2) malloc(2), enjoy the breakage in third-party applications ;)
Security updates for perl(1) and the kernel. Updated mksh(1) also. We do not deliver precompiled perl header files any more.
gcc now complains if CFLAGS are not honoured. - 26.01.2006
There are new, working, permanent homepages of both jupp and the MirBSD korn shell mksh these are redirections which are hosted in waldi's Zope and (usually) point to a working mirror just like for MirOS itself and the MirOS CVSweb redirector.
There is also a new version of jupp released, joe-3.1jupp5. - 24.01.2006
Progress is being made both in ports as in base. A new snapshot is scheduled to be uploaded in a few days also fixing the HTML problems with the online manual pages. - 20.01.2006
Some of the domain issues have been solved, and the #1 well-known mirror (mirbsd.mirsolutions.de) is back up and running, although only with a kludge. Expect mirbsd.org to point to the new master server soonish, and some overhaul of the website content to reflect the changes. The old CVS repositories have been frozen and published as a cpio-ball (all three together); there will be zero, really no commits at all any more to ocvs.
The G**gle Ads are gone from the website and will cease to exist in the manual pages, too. They closed my account for supposed abuse which I (tg@) can't have done (only installed opera afterwards to login and check if I can see something in the logs, couldn't login already), right when the first payment was about to be issued (accumulated some 100 USD in over 10 months), and do not react on my enquiring eMail at all. This just sucks, and they do owe me that money.
Check out the web log too, it's a bit more active than in the past (not much though).
MirSirc has been updated in ports relative to the public preview, use that. A new /cvs cpio ball will be published quite soon, too. - 15.01.2006
We are having problems with the domain hosters, please stand by, we will solve them.
The 2006-01-13 snapshot has now been published, although some data (www, domains, ssh public keys, HTML man pags) are only correct in the HEAD revision. - 03.01.2006
Several minor fixes in ports, roff2htm and other parts of the system.
Do not hardcode MirOS mirrors, use the generic redirection (mirbsd.de/mirbsd.org) instead, as they'll change. - 30.12.2005
A bugfix in the current development version leads to a working implementation of the "some shared library depends on another shared library" scenario. Whether it's now officially supported is still to decide (don't depend on it), but a candidate for MFC, definitively.
Several publication media have written off each other. After waking up we were like, "WTF we had released a MirOS XP?" and cleaned up with explanations. - 29.12.2005
Public MirOS #8 Release Announcement (HTML version) crafted.
MirPorts now contains a provision for properly locating X11 application defaults.
MirOS Project will attend FROSCON, sponsor a BSD room (for all BSDs). At 22C3, DragonFly BSD people confirmed that they actually exist (and will attend FROSCON). - 18.12.2005
First public development snapshot of tg@'s fork of the sirc IRC client, MirSirc, released for peer review (relative to /usr/local).
A lot of pending fixes for the build of the whole system was revised and committed in an overnight no-sleep session at Netzladen. - 16.12.2005
MirPorts Framework: first step at implementing package upgrades (works for very simple setups).
CVS: finally, passes the CVSREADONLYFS environment variable (or -R flag) to the server, if using the :ext: protocol (rsh/ssh). Might break with quite some servers, including anoncvssh until today, but it's worth the pain. Trust me.
Several ports updated / fixed: chemtool cups djbdns esound esp-ghostscript gentium-font libtool* mirmake openvpn opera pine/c-client/imapd sirc terminus-font xmms.
Perl on Mac OS X and malloc fixed in the ports infrastructure.
*) No final fix yet, communicating with upstream. - 14.12.2005
Updating project servers to new snapshot; expect some, minor, instabilities. Switched IRC channel from OFTC to FreeForge, with SSL soon and VPN already enabled: server thor.mirbsd.org:6667 or irc.freeforge.net:6667 channel #mirbsd - 07.12.2005
New i386 binary snapshot, source snapshot and CVS repo cpio bowl available for public download. Happy Birthday! - 05.12.2005
Updated GNU CVS to 1.12.13; rewrote the scripts we use in /cvs/CVSROOT/ to generate changelogs and mails (maybe add later support for changesets in cvsweb). Shrink source tree (by removing unused tags and cleaning up the Attic). Re-enable bootfloppy. - 04.12.2005
mksh R26 and new MirMake and CPIO versions are out and change big thing. The source tree has been fully merged; snapshots will be built again soon, preparations started. - 20.11.2005
mksh R25b has been released, with support for MirOS #7 and (new) Cygwin. The current versions of gcc-3.4 (stable) and gpc (GNU Pascal) have been imported, and bugs are being fixed. Work on ports has stabilised, the new infrastructure is ready. - 17.11.2005
Work on LKMs has been done to the extent that they can be used again. make(1) now knows the .trace operation. In MirPorts you can now specify CVS server, tag/date and module paths as a "pseudo distfile" instead of rolling your own; they will still be checksummed. The pkgtools port has been converted to use this new mechanism; we'll see if it creates trouble.
The new _anoncvs password on thor/mirsolutions.de is empty. - 16.11.2005
The new MirPorts installer both works on all supported platforms now and has got a manual page. Several ports were fixed, updated and tested on some of the platforms; the infrastructure is further improved as well. Some helpers used during the build got a polish. Some annoying DEBUGLIBS and DEBUGPROGS bugs were fixed and the kernel and bootloader now work properly too. The long-standing timekeeping issues are all solved, the GNU mktime testsuite works. Some documentation has been updated. Work on I18N has continued as well as some more merging of OpenBSD. Lynx has been updated, and a bunch of OpenBSD ksh patches flew in. upkg, the MirOS setup manual page, and some other "old stuff" was touched again. Almost all our portable tools have had at least one new release. - 03.10.2005
After about 2½ years, our first mirror (in USA) goes offline. Thanks to bsdadvocacy.org for hosting us so long, at the very beginning even though the OpenBSD team disapproved.
Also, the etherkiller.de mirror disappeared, and the tamu.edu was, IIRC, taken offline some time ago. This means, at the moment there is only one, central, place to retrieve MirOS BSD (in Germany):…
There has been some further work ongoing related to both the ports stuff (infrastructure fixes and port updates) and libc (it builds, but this is only a small step towards both I18N and unbreaking the current CVS HEAD). - 23.09.2005
New MirMake; MirPorts work again on Darwin; I18N/UTF-8 work on libc has been started. - 18.09.2005
A new version of MirMake has been released; test it on as many platforms as you can please.
Development slowed down, mostly due to influenza, also studying work increases. Sorry. - 12.09.2005
The MirPorts Framework now can be installed as user too. The newly written infrastructure is active; Support for Darwin, OpenBSD and, eventually, Interix will make it into the framework the next days. Along with this, new versions of the Mir* tools have been released (gzsig'd as usual). - 20.08.2005
The MirPorts Framework now installs into /usr/mpkg on all platforms by default. This improves coexistence with other porting frameworks, such as the OpenBSD Ports Tree; simplifies cleaning up by removal of all installed packages; provides a consistent, among all platforms, interface; leaves /usr/local to the admin. Of course, this means, reinstallation is necessary.
Please to be keeping in mind that most ports (that were using libtool) still need to be updated. - 09.08.2005
The [link] MirWiki is read-only, for a transition phase. The content will be merged into the main page, as time permits. After that, it will be shut down entirely. - 02.08.2005
MirOS hasn't stopped, it's just progressing slowly because current development is progressing in rather big steps. There is a status, mirror and "all-in-one overview" page now which we will keep up to date if no other one. There are also some hardware issues to solve (such as a broken Socket 7 fan, and a non-working coffee machine), but we will continue development and fighting lobbyism, politician nonsense etc.
mksh R24 has been released some time ago and is the first one who actually made it into Debian testing, hooray! - 06.07.2005
The European Parliament has finally stopped patents on algorithms, data structures and business models. MirOS has gained speed, USB 2 support and probably a few other things, among more stability. The MirPorts Framework is undergoing an infrastructural change of deep impact; we will keep you informed. The MirWiki is about to be shut down end of July, 2005; content will be merged back into the MirOS website (www module); this is due to lack of interest. - 26.05.2005
mksh R22 is formally released; this is the latest version of our portable shell sources which we consider stable.
Most in-tree issues for the release have settled down; there is still some work to do in the upgrading third-party stuff (gcc, binutils, gdb, lynx) development. It's not adviced to download the current sources and compile it yourself at this time. (Update: R22c, some portability fixes.) - 05.05.2005
K7 PowerNow support has been greatly revamped, the PST used can be chosen at UKC time now. A third release candidate should have been uploaded but could not due to a server defect. The main CVS server was updated with MirOS #8 RC3, and we use the new commitid feature of GNU CVS 1.12.12 extensively now. Expect a fourth candidate seen on the BitTorrent servers soon. - 03.05.2005
Yesterday's Snapshot comes with a broken httpd(8) that is fixed in HEAD, and a broken gij(1) for which I cannot imagine a fix. Please help investigating if you know GCJ. - 30.04.2005
The current development version really fixes all known C++ issues, as well as enables GCJ (and libjava) to build. I also have successfully built Sun's JDK/JRE 1.4.2 and QT3. The work (as far as I can see with my limited knowledge). - 28.04.2005
MirOS #8 RC1 is out, for general testing. Please update bsd.own.mk to src/share/mk/bsd.own.mk,v 1.8 because otherwise some programs fail to compile correctly. Installation documentation is currently being written, system documentation being updated (so please, bear with us or, better, send in patches or suggestions). - 25.04.2005
MirOS-current (no snapshot yet) fixes the C++ problems, it's now a fully supported programming language (leaving only GCJ open for my desires – that's the reason gcc is built after X11 by a make dist, by the way). It also contains some other minor yet important fixes, but there's still an update of a component pending before a new snapshot can be released. - 20.04.2005
We're closer to solving that X/GLX problem, thanks to David Dawes, who is tracking it down to threads at the moment. The promised new snapshot is available as usual, via the BitTorrent tracker. Direct downloads should work soon too. Please report functional installs but especially failures, to help making MirOS #8 the best release ever. - 19.04.2005
The current development version of MirOS has received numerous bug fixes in gcc, XFree86® and others over the last few days. Also the in-tree CVS has been updated to fix a security issue which is described at the CVS homepage and has got new features able to improve our infrastructure. Furthermore, after a long period of no port being available, the GNU Debugger is now integrated in MirOS, as part of GNU Binutils, again (we are using a development version from January 2005). Only CLI for now, the TUI requires, as of now, linking against GNU libreadline which does not come with MirOS any more. Fixes for libedit are probably easy.
The fixes are made available via a new development snapshot which is currently being built and expected to hit the mirrors within the next 2 days. - 12.04.2005
There has been a new release of MirMake, along with distfiles for: MirCksum (tested, ports/essentials/cksum), MirNroff (untested). If you use MirPorts/Darwin, you must execute the installation script, ports/infrastructure/install/Setup-Darwin.sh, again. - 30.03.2005
Today we present a new, binary and source, snapshot to the general public. This snapshot comes with i386 binaries, source code for X, the base system (including gnu and gcc) as well as the latest cool MirPorts checkout. It's available for retrieval at the usual place as well as our BitTorrent tracker (while there, don't forget to donate the sysop of this tracker because he is giving this service to us for free). Also, a new CVS Repository snapshot has been published.
These are all signed using the new personal PGP key of developer tg@ that should be available from the public keyserver network, for example at the DFN-PCA keyserver.
C++ support is included, yet still (except for xlock) not working correctly due to a GCC bug. - 28.03.2005
The MirOS Project proudly announces that MirPorts is open for both using and modifying again and the transition to the new repository has finished successfully. Several ports have been updated, mostly to newer versions than OpenBSD 3.7-current has to offer.
Also GCC 3.4 is now almost feature-complete, with C, Objective-C, gcov, protoize, unprotoize, Pascal, Ada and C++ support in the compiler, leaving only java missing; with support libraries for all of these front-ends – however, libstdc++-v3 is still slightly broken, meaning anything which uses iostreams dumps core, we'll leave that to fix for someone who actually knows what templates are.
The C++ breakage does not affect libGLU and xlock, the latter thus now comes with all OpenGL modi as well. - 25.03.2005
We have imported gcc 3.4-stable (20050325), currently working with the C, Ada, Objective-C and C++ front-ends and Ada and Objective-C support libraries. Support for exception handling through a shared libgcc has been written and is currently being tested. After C++'s support library has been added a new feature snapshot will be made available to the general public for testing. - 22.03.2005
The MirOS Project has obtained a new logo to identify the project. It will look quite familiar for a couple of you, but we obtained a full permit to identify it with anything MirBSD™.
Also, the GNU Compiler Collection 3.4.4 has made it into the source tree and is being ported; XFree86® has been contacted. - 20.03.2005
We have updated our XFree86™ to the recently released 4.5.0, with only minor breakage along the way. Also, MirPorts are getting fixed by bsiegert@ after the transition to the new CVS repository. This means the next snapshot will rock even more, especially since X11 is built using systrace now, too; we'd appreciate if our users were going to test them hard and help fixing problems.
As for the website design changes: it's not yet finished, but we're still waiting for delivery of the new images. Stay tuned. - 19.03.2005
XFree86™ 4.5 joined us in the tree; it's currently in the process of being ported. - 13.03.2005
We've reopened the webpages, after the Wiki came back earlier. The problems about software patents aren't finished, either. Good news is that Plan 9's ditroff is under an acceptable licence.
ncvs migration of src is pretty much complete, except Lynx (an upstream update is expected); gcc isn't started yet and X11 really depends upon when XFree86™ is about to be released. - 06.03.2005
mirbsd.org has been freed and saved from the hands of the evil OpenBSD force who announced in a primitive video that they'll put some new pictures on there. It has since been sponsored to the MirOS Project (but, similar to mirbsd.de, does not belong to a project member). Both second-level domains are content-filled from a Zope system run by the owner of mirbsd.de, where 2 project members are content admins. - 28.02.2005
We're back from FOSDEM. MirPorts work on Mac OSX now, but only for ports without a PFRAG.shared!
Update 02.03.05
There is basic support for PFRAG.dylib in place, so Midnight Commander (including libglib, autoconf 2.13 and 2.59, and help2man, works – this includes MirLibtool)! - 05.02.2005
The (final) new CVS repository has been started; the modules "www" and "contrib" have been fully merged over, "src" and "X11" started and "gcc" and "ports" will follow. CVSweb, still lacking adequate functionality to directly display ChangeLog links (we work around it now), has been updated and enhanced. - 22.01.2005
We're almost through with the new directory structure, CVS and GCC versions and various stages of merging and fixing. SSH still dumps core after exiting (forced by ProPolice), but there will be a peek into the new technology available for download later which closes our work on ncvs I and leads to opening ncvs II back at herc. - 07.01.2005
Benny has formally released #7quinquies for the i386 platform (build sparc from #7-stable source after having installed #7quater) and Thorsten fixed up the MirOS BSD kernel to build with gcc 3.4 and merged much more code into ncvs. - 05.01.2005
Happy new year to all MirOS users! We've just returned from 21C3, the first MirHackathon's location, where we successfully built a macppc system cross. This night, tg@ has also successfully built a local gcc 3.4 (still without ProPolice, but progressing fast). An exciting number of new features and bug fixes is being made in the different (and confusing) CVS branches. Stay tuned! - 03.12.2004
CVS 1.12.10 has entered HEAD and replaces CVS 1.11.1p1 which has done well for ages. (Let me repeat it again: do not try to access a new repository with an old cvs binary or vice versa.)
Some time_t related bugs have been fixed; compat_openbsd(8) has been extended to the point that it successfully runs Mozilla™ Firefox™ and probably also Sun's native Java™. - 30.11.2004
The new snapshot is up via the BitTorrent tracker. Today you will get excellent download rates, tomorrow we will have to reduce the upstream for cost reasons. It will appear on direct download mirrors later. Please test test test, we haven't been able to do so before. Time handling looks fixed now, OpenBSD emulation is pretty damn stable. [UPDATE] Everything which uses rusage() under emulatin (Linux or OpenBSD) is still broken. - 24.11.2004
No new snapshot yet. Problems with time handling, both in our libc routines (by Ohlson, DJB and me) and in format string handlings (such as these in libcrypto of OpenSSL fame) have further delayed proliferation of a "known good" snapshot (ie. X.509 cert validation broke, so I couldn't use pine or lynx).
Let me repeat: It is important that, once the new snap is out, you all test it. I mean it. - 21.11.2004
A new snapshot has been released via BitTorrent and direct download. New features: fixed Linux and newly written OpenBSD 3.6-current emulation; lots of bug fixes. This snapshot is a "known good" state of MirOS #8-beta; we will start porting cvs-1.12 and gcc-3.4 now that this snapshot is released. See you at 21C3!
Update: the snapshot is revoked for both bugs in the installer/ramdisk and corrupt time handling! - 12.11.2004
After a week full of work, the website has been restructured. New versions of mksh (a temporary beta version), make(1) (still experimental, but much better) and joe (jupp) (new) have been released; refer to the individual pages for a complete list of changes to these. The hbSuite performs very stable. - 07.11.2004
MirDNS #2 and hbServer/hbClient for the heartbeat protocol have been written, alongside with a few fixes and extensions to the base system. There is a small speedup in the kernel (-current) and MirPorts. - 03.11.2004
Experimental support for PHP 5 has been added to MirPorts, and a huge number of other ports fixed, updated or added. The kernel has received fixes and speed-ups, and the userland is in a better shape now as well. Snapshots will be announced later. [update] php5 looks good. - 31.10.2004
The COMPAT_OPENBSD system is now ready for general gamma test (means, I've fixed it during alpha-test and haven't found another bug during beta-test, now it's your turn to help test the snapshots). Mirbsdksh has gained the ability to spawn on a different terminal; since this is for root only, it will probably be used mainly on rescue systems. Severe usability bugs in ssh have been fixed.
OpenBSD 3.6 is out, congrats to our upstream project! For certain reasons, we'd like to warn you from using inofficial ISOs or downloads, and urge you to buy the CDs instead. (The OpenBSD project does not cryptographically sign their FTP/HTTP/AFS releases or distribute (signed) torrents.) - 16.10.2004
The first public snapshot of MirOS #8-beta is up. We are now at the stage of feature-completeness, so the only issues missing are to port gcc 3.4 (first coregcc), reactivate support for the sparc platform, make non-core gcc 3.4 running (Objective-C, C++, Java™, Ada, Pascal, Fortran - not considered part of MirOS) and start release engineering. - 11.10.2004
Waldemar Brodkorb left the project. We wish him luck for the work on his diploma, and hope for a nice comeback to the BSD community. HEAD has been deemed ripe enough for MirOS #8-beta, 1 year and two weeks after #7semel has been released, and exactly two years after MirOS #0 had been uploaded, long ago. We'll take this opportunity and remind you to fight against patents on algorithms, business models, interfaces and data structures; also we'd like to remind you that licencing policy should be easy, and trademark policy disasters such as the Mozilla™ one avoided. - 09.10.2004
You are now able with MirOS HEAD to cross-compile to different platforms and operating systems, if you can provide include files and libraries. This has been verified against i386-pc-linux-gnu from i386-ecce-mirbsd7 using Debian GNU/Linux includes and libs. - 25.09.2004
Good news: we've got a Strato dedicated server which will be set up these days in order to provide a central AnonRSYNC server to our mirrors and developers, and /cvs moves from the elderly Pentium-120 (herc) to a shiny new Soekris net4801 Geode-266 box (loki).
The MirOS X.509 Certification Authority is gone; uuencode, md5 and ssh-keygen have undergone changes in order to supplement the upcoming MirPG (pgp-2.6.3 replacement written in mirbsdksh, depending only on tools from the base system).
Many ports have been enhanced, updated or fixed; the system is considered stable, sane for general use now, although there are a few known bugs and security issues left.
We're increasing the total number of (in- and active) developers to seven; welcome tyler@ to MirOS! - 17.09.2004
Looks like most of the issues with SSP have been sorted out. GNU binutils have been updated, too; expect a snapshot RSN. - 16.09.2004
Currently, there are undergoing efforts to use -fstack-protector-all on the system by default, yielding an even better SSP/ProPolice protection (and maybe the discovery of bugs, or already shortcomings of the system). After that, we will try to upgrade CVS to a more recent -stable version, sync to OpenBSD 3.6-current, import the GNU Compiler Collection 3.4 (or 3.5, but I don't think so) and prepare the long-awaited release, Codename MirOS XP.
MirPorts also gets some updates - a bit fresh code, bug-fixes and Firesomething (a certain web browser) finally works (tested on OpenBSD/i386). - 29.08.2004
Happy Birthday! MirOS is now being worked on for two years. The linuxulator is fixed in time and SSH updated for the birthday snapshot. Surprise, surprise! We've got a new website mirror (without the more fancy stuff such as Wiki, CVSweb etc.) - if you encounter broken links, please report to the development team. Thanks.
Update: the MirPorts snapshot delivered with the birthday snapshot torrent does not work as-is; please upgrade. You might also want to update libc, because the hash functions are broken. - 22.08.2004
Progress has been made: binutils support all 32-bit and 64-bit targets possible (and coded) now, and httpd is back on track and working (just not with all diffs we would liked to have). OpenSSH has been updated from the upstream 3.9 (not portable) version.
Next week will be dedicated to fixing stuff, so that we can release a birthday snapshot - we've been working for two years! - 16.08.2004
There are new snapshots available at the usual place via BitTorrent; please do not forget to check the PGP signatures on the files. Also, we have prepared a new seed for people wishing to rsync our CVS, see the appropriate page (bottom). The online manual pages have been updated to reflect the current state of the art.
We're awaiting your reports, at our discuss mailing list, on how you tested the new snapshot and like MirOS - and if you want to fix stuff, please don't be shy, send an unidiff! - 14.08.2004
GENERIC (bsd) and RAMDISK (bsd.rd) are now the same file, binutils have been merged (not gdb or gprof), and HEAD builds again. Snapshots will follow in a while for the public to test. - 10.08.2004
We now have online manual pages for all basic sections: 1 2 3 4 5 9 7 8 9. The Perl manual pages are not online due to their uselessness, and search and apropos functions will probably be implemented later.
Some time ago, a user has written an ISDN 4 MirOS Howto which was not yet linked. - 09.08.2004
HEAD still does not build, but the situation gets better: libobjc and libstdc++ have left the tree; libreadline has been updated to GNU readline 5.0 and libiberty to GNU gdb 6.2; gcc has been adjusted for these changes.
MirLibtool is now on 1.5.8 level, and there have been some changes in MirPorts related to that, meaning it's an unstable time again. - 05.08.2004
Since this page is intended for "official press releases", sort of at least, there's a new news page up in the Wiki, the [link] collaborative MirNews page.
Besides that, we're currently discussing the future of MirPorts w.r.t. OpenBSD Ports, and fixing some minor bugs. The libpng contained within the -current base system has been updated to fix the current security problems. - 22.07.2004
We've got three new developers: Waldemar Brodkorb, who has helped out with MirPorts once, comes back after he finishes his "Praxissemester" at the university, being the number one responsible for keeping MirPorts on OpenBSD working. Stephen Paskaluk and Dave Steinberg from the ekkoBSD project are going to commit minor patches themselfes if they stumble across a thing, help with the website and discussion of the project's future, and Dave will continue his work on fdialog, a free clone of the GPL licenced dialog program known to most people as the front-end of a Linux 'make menuconfig'.
We're currently working in the interna of MirOS; don't expect a new snapshot before mid-August. If you experience xterm crashes with the current snapshot, cvs up in src/X-Window/xc/programs/xterm and rebuild (I used imake(1) and a hack, but learned today that xmkmf(1) exists). - 20.07.2004
The ekkoBSD project is no more, and we also had to drop some things due to lack of time for maintenance. The sparc port goes over board, it was just too slow (sorry to the XFree86 guys that I could not live up for my promise to build XF86 4.4.0 on sparc), and I've got to do enough with i386, overall, ports infrastructure, etc.
Some other things also left (gcc2, gcc3's Fortran 77, FreeBSD and BSD/OS personalities) or will leave the tree (gcc3's non-C languages), some (gcc2, gcc3) will appear as port though. Some major changes are undergoing, so do not build -current right now - it's unusable (httpd, binutils need merging). We promise to not "die" within the next two years or so. - 02.07.2004
The leap second code in the kernel now is being used, and finally, the clock is always correct - TAI seconds in the kernel, UTC date and time-of-day in the RTC. MirPorts now installs all subpackages of a port just built by default, recursively calling pkg_add. New snapshots will come up later these days. - 29.06.2004
LinuxTag is over, and there are two CD ISOs available for download via BitTorrent. The MirOS #7quater CD works with the MirPorts snapshot it comes with, but for current ports it needs updating. If you want to upgrade to -current, please notice that you cannot execute old OpenBSD or MirOS BSD binaries, and probably no Linux, FreeBSD or BSD/OS binaries either yet. Also, the file /etc/rc on the -current snapshot ISO is broken; you must replace the "}" on line 304 with "esac".
bsiegert@ has updated the errata pages and announced the snapshot on freshmeat, and we sold about 80 CDs and 25 T-Shirts - there are still T-Shirts available for snail mailing; contact tg@ if interested. - 17.06.2004
For all brave people, I've prepared a new development snapshot. Be advised though that this neither contains the latest security fixes (for example for (m(ir))httpd), nor the OpenBSD emulation (ie, you can't execute MirOS-stable or oldcurrent binaries under this snapshot), nor will the next snapshot be binary compatible (according to some FreeBSD guy, it will have a hard time executing these). And the boot loader is everything but tested. - 15.06.2004
MirOS #7quater has been released - the CD ISO is currently being distributed among the team in order to be given away at LinuxTag 2004, Booth B62 and will be published via BT a couple of days after. The binary distribution sets can be downloaded now, as well as an update from MirOS #7ter.
MirPorts have been restructured, please read the instructions before upgrading! - 05.06.2004
Not a big update, though: MirOS #7 has been released for the first time, but since it's merely a binary (not even built and uploaded yet) snapshot of MirOS #7-stable, that's not big news. As for the HEAD branch - please refrain from using it for a little while. - 15.05.2004
The [link] MirWiki has gone live; please enjoy! It's modeled after the CVier using UseMod.
anonCVS and anonRSYNC at mirbsd.bsdadvocacy.org are working. - 13.05.2004
Deprotect Advisories <advisories@deprotect.com> has found, via OpenBSD, a local memory read hole in the default MirOS installation. Workaround: umount /proc and refrain from using it. - 02.05.2004, updated 04.05.2004, updated 08.05.2004
There is a new Snapshot of MirOS, dated 01.05.2004, available for download via HTTP and HTTPS. If you do not install the egcs7.ngz set, you need to manually unpack the noegcs7.tgz file after installation. If you would like to use the X-Window system (XFree86 4.4.0, with a 180% speed bust for S3 Savage users), you must manually update the server by unpacking xf86-fixed.tgz (detached PGP signature available) after installation.
Soon, a BitTorrent Download will be A BitTorrent Download is available for a snapshot dated 03.05.2004 which fixes the issues above and updates some other components. This is the first time we distribute a snapshot via BitTorrent, so please join us at the discuss mailing list to discuss and submit feedback about this method. (We don't have a way to seed the download with more than 4 KiB/sec yet, if you are interested in helping to seed, please contact us.) - It appears that using BitTorrent is a success, but not many people are downloading; that's why we have opened a page about issues with prior releases and snapshots so you _know_ why to update.
Addendum: there's a binary fixup package available at the BitTorrent page, too. Please install.
The website will get casual updates over the next few days. - 28.04.2004
I admit we've been slacking w.r.t. the website lately; information will be fed into it later. We're busy preparing new snapshots of -current (i386) and the MirOS BSD #7quater (sparc) release, together with binary updates for #7ter.
MirOS #7quater is a snapshot of the MIRBSD_7 branch (MirOS #7-stable), including an updated ksh, new pkgtools and ability to run current ports. - 13.04.2004
Georgina O Economou from the XFree86 project reminds us to announce that XFree86 4.4.0 is included in MirOS-current (snapshots will be available soon), and to improve this site's readability by providing different style sheets for selection. - 19.03.2004
Benny Siegert has MFCd the latest OpenBSD errata into MirOS-stable and issued temporary binary upgrade ustar-balls for i386. For a full binary install or upgrade (site34.tgz) for i386 and sparc, please stay tuned, we're still lacking equipment and time. - 13.03.2004
There is a new snapshot available, i386 only; Slashdot didn't want the story. AnonCVS is not working at the moment, the mirror's root will fix it soon. Ports are being fixed.
Press coverage of the new snapshot, including discussion, is at Symlink (German) and daily Dæmonnews (English). - 05.03.2004
An admin at BSDadvocacy has helped us restore the downloads for the #7ter release of MirOS BSD. Thanks. - 02.03.2004
The following languages are now supported: C C++ Objective-C Ada Fortran-77. Pascal breaks (some BSD make guru out there who volunteers to help us finding the circular dependency I don't see?), and the Java™-compatible subsystem is not in tree. Overall breakage for -current version is reduced, but for #7 users, the best bet is still to stick with #7bis ports. — MirPorts are now guarded by SYSTRACE unless overridden by a port or the user, for increased security and less damage done to the install. - 29.02.2004
MirOS gcc3 now supports Ada in addition to C and C++ front-ends. Support for Pascal, Objective C, Fortran and maybe Java™ will come as time permits. Upgrading by source is not possible. - 25.02.2004
We have survived FOSDEM and may bring you good news: MirOS has been a success, we've even distributed more flyers than the FreeBSD project (with whom we were very friendly btw). Since today, MirPorts uses the SVR4 CPIO format with CRC as its default packaging format.
Please beware that MirPorts are currently at a stage in development where everything and his little brother is broken due to a broken design choice in GNU Libtool, Automake, Autoconf and M4 implementations and follow-up breakage in almost any program. We are working on it. There are no issues left except for time. - Announcement
From 01.02.2004 onwards, announcements and other information to the public, will be PGP signed by one of the MirOS developers' keys, listed here. - 31.01.2004
Snapshots of i386-current are almost ready. Improvements: new CSU from GCC3; WineX is working. Improved linking of code (libgcc.so.1.0), especially C++ shared libraries (libGLU, for example). Big bug and warning fix round all through the base. Real fixes for X-Window. - 20.01.2004
MirOS #7-stable was brought on track with security fixes. MirOS-current has been brought up to date, both MirPorts and GCC 3.x-wise, with OpenBSD-current (where feasible). The MirOS developers now have cross-signed PGP keys. - 14.01.2004
A sad thing happened: all history of MirOS prior to -current, except for the CVS repository, is lost forever. They were saved on a hard disc on mirbsd.bsdadvocacy.org, and could not have been backed up at our homes because of storage problems (no big HDDs here in .de). All binaries have been deleted here. We will re-upload the #7ter version, with amends from #7-stable, later. We will ensure integrity of the CVS repository mirror as soon as possible. (The hardware problems which caused bad checksums have been resolved on the server side, thanks to Josh for his good tracking down the bug.)
Waldemar Brodkorb leaves the team for personal reasons. - 03.01.2004
Asides from updating base system code with latest OpenBSD-current, the new package tools code is finally written and being tested, which means MirPorts can be updated soon as well. Changes in the MirPorts Framework code residing in the src/ repository will be mirrored in the stable branch. Work on a depenguinator (MirOS remote installer) has been started as well. You can now place the MirBSD partition into an extended partition. - 30.12.2003
There is now a MirOS #7-stable branch, maintained by Benny Siegert. 20C3 is over, and it was great. - 27.12.2003
Apparently, anonCVS at mirbsd.bsdadvocacy.org is back up and running - a great thanks to selerius. - 25.12.2003
Due to the emergency of 20C3 and apparent problems with flakey RAM at BSDadvocacy, a temporary mirror has been established for the website only (no download, no CVS). - 23.12.2003
We were going to hold a speech at 20C3, the Chaos Communication Congress we are going to attend, in order to introduce people to the existence and features of MirOS. Since the people responsible for making up the timetable seem to be smoking shit and no mail or other way of communication has been answered, tg@ personally isn't interested in a speech any more. - 21.12.2003
The current version features Perl 5.8.2, working gcc-3 with passed propolice regression test and functional libstdc++, as well as a /boot which can be started from within MS-DOS or be burnt onto a CD-R in "no emulation" mode. Sendmail is built with libmilter by default. - 05.12.2003
The switch to gcc 3.2.3 was finally done in the HEAD branch, still i386 only on purpose. Stay tuned. (The remaining issues with libstdc++ and libtool have been sorted out on 10.12.2003, completing the switch. A snapshot has been uploaded, minus the corrected gcc version string, on 12.12.2003.) - 01.12.2003
The CVS slave repository at mirbsd-cvs@mirbsd.bsdadvocacy.org:/cvs is now synched daily. Expect it to be consistently updated at about 08:30 UTC. (Update: apparently the anoncvs service is not working. We're trying to contact root.) - 30.11.2003
The GNU compiler collection 3.2.3 can now be used to build MirOS, but will not yet be used as default compiler because propolice cannot be currently enabled (it leads to internal compiler errors). This adds back libGLU support to XFree86, too. - 22.11.2003
MirOS BSD #7ter has been released. Its binary builds will be finished and uploaded to the main distribution server soon. Anyone who wants to mirror, please contact us. - 16.11.2003
tg@ reports success in building through the i386 port of the #7 development branch, and prepares for the release. - 14.11.2003
wbx@ reports success in building through the sparc port of the #7 development branch. - 23.10.2003
Open a "development branch" with the CVS Tag MIRBSD_7_DEV, which will be used to perform updates and bug fixes on the codebase of MirBSD #7 (semel, bis, ...) and eventually release new versions of MirOS BSD #7 (ter, ...) which are still pgcc-based. They'll be inheriting the OpenBSD 3.4 Errata where applicable, and releases will only be made if there are no regressions against older releases from the MIRBSD_7{,_DEV} branch. The branch will be regularily pulled into the HEAD branch where applicable.
For current news, please refer to the main news page and the start page (for hot items).
Old ChangeLog
Featuring a compact yet detailed list of changes between the snapshots uploaded – both for developers and users. A stripped down version (for user view) is being used for putting info into freshmeat and similar websites.
