[FreeVMS] New enthusiast.

[Guido]

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately the project has not been active for quite some time now. I 
believe I was the last person to commit anything to FreeVMS 0.3.17 (in a 
separate branche).

FreeVMS was originally based on the Linux 2.4.18 kernel with a lot of 
VMS code from the different internet resources added to it. I do not 
mean to belittle this effort, it is actually quite an accomplishment. 
The resulting FreeVMS 0.3.x code is an operating system that has some 
minimal VMS functionality. The downside is that it is presently still 
based on the Linux 2.4.18 kernel code, but now it is outdated and 
difficult to maintain. I tried to improve maintainability by eliminating 
unused code, consolidating coding styles, adding a minimal test 
framework, but I am afraid there is still a long way to go.

The FreeVMS 0.4.x branch is a rewrite of FreeVMS based on the L4 micro 
kernel (in an effort to overcome the problems with the 0.3.x branch 
mentioned above, I assume). This branch did not get a lot of support 
though and lacks functionality. I must admit that I considered 
restarting form scratch myself several times, while working on the 0.3.x 
code, so I can appreciate this effort too.

At present, I am not sure how to proceed. I believe there are different 
options (some more viable than others):

 1. continue the 0.3.x branch
 2. continue the 0.4.x branch
 3. restart from scratch
 4. restart based on the latest Linux kernel
 5. restart based on a different open source OS (possibly ReactOS?)
 6. start with a compatiblity layer that enables you to recompile VMS
    software on Linux or Windows (to be incorporated the into FreeVMS)
 7. ...?

I think that no matter what you choose, it will always be a lot of work 
(too much for a single person). I am still willing to spend some spare 
time on this project though, because I think it would be great to have 
an open source VMS-like operating system.

I hope I have not been too blunt, I was just trying to be honest. Please 
note  this is my personal view though. Maybe it would be best if you had 
a look at the code and let us know what you think and what exactly you 
could contribute.

Regards,
Guido


On 05/31/2017 10:00 PM, Chris Craft wrote:
> Hello fellow VMSers... I have been dabbling with VMS since I first 
> laid hands on a MicroVAX-II with 5.x on it (about 1995 or so?), and am 
> currently a licensed hobbyist with 7.3 running under simulation. I've 
> been running linux since 0.99 and would like to see if I can help the 
> two worlds meet in this project.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Chris.
>
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