Subject: Re: [vserver] Roadmap and Future ...
From: Herbert Poetzl <herbert@13thfloor.at>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:58:57 +0100

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 09:42:46AM -0600, Michael S. Zick wrote:
> On Thu February 26 2009, Herbert Poetzl wrote:
> > 
> > Dear Linux-VServer Community!
> > 
> > Every now and then I get asked what the Roadmap for
> > Linux-VServer is and what Features or Changes can be
> > expected in the near (and far) future, so I decided
> > to share my thoughts with you on the ML.
> > 
> > (note that they are not just Roadmap related :)
> > 
> > First, Linux-VServer is not dead! :)
> > 
> > Despite the hype (7 and 2 years ago), mainline
> > (i.e. kernel.org) is not nearly ready to replace the
> > quite complex mechanisms required to build and run 
> > an isolated Guest, as Linux-VServer (and similar
> > Projects) provide.
> > 
> > Second, as the number of Linux-VServer kernel
> > hackers is still quite small, and a lot of changes
> > in mainline require quite some testing to get a new
> > Stable Version, I think we need to find a new 
> > revenue strain to get that work done.

> In part, because Linux-VServer uses a closed repository.

first, the 'repository' is open, all the patches
are available to anybody

> Why not move the repository to a public readable/clonable
> SCM at any of the many sites that host such things (for free).

second, we have a public git repository (which
is maintained by somebody else than the kernel
developers, because it turned out to be more
work to maintain and use such a repository than
the current 'patch' solution

> Give people a chance to work on it and submit fixes/changes -
> then you might get more development help.

haven't seen any contributions on that side
(neither from the git repository nor via patches,
which is still the way mainline works, btw) for
a long time now ...

HTC,
Herbert

> Mike
> > To complicate things, my wife and I relocated to a
> > new, old house, which needs a lot of work, and we
> > still need to sell the old one (more to that at the
> > end of this posting)
> > 
> > One proposal I have (which was actually tested over
> > the years, and seems to work - at least for me) would
> > be that Companies using Linux-VServer get some kind
> > of 'Service Contract' with a Developer (which is a
> > good thing anyway), ranging between a single hour 
> > per month up to a day per week, for, let's say 100 
> > EUR per hour, which can be consumed or not, where in
> > the latter case, this time will be spent on general
> > Linux-VServer development and testing. (if you like
> > that idea, please contact me and I'm certain we can
> > arrange something)
> > 
> > The big advantage over occasional donations is that
> > the developer can 'somewhat' rely on that income and
> > does not need to 'hope' for an upcoming donation.
> > 
> > Now for the Roadmap: 
> > 
> > I think what we need most in the near future is a
> > new, well tested stable release, which can be adopted
> > by distributions and which will be maintained for
> > a reasonable amount of time, and that's actually what
> > I'm working on whenever time permits.
> > 
> > New features will mainly include adaptations of 'old'
> > features, lost and forgotten over time, and improve-
> > ments on the mainline integration (like cgroups and
> > such), as well as some virtualizations to simplify
> > handling and make it more guest friendly.
> > 
> > One upcoming mainline feature which I will try to
> > integrate as soon as it is available is the check-
> > pointing and resume functionality.
> > 
> > I also plan to do a web frontend to control basic
> > functionality and a minimalistic host distribution
> > to run Linux-VServer Guests on, but I have no idea 
> > when I will find time for that.
> > 
> > Finally, as usual, input here is welcome, so if you
> > have an isolation feature you want to see really soon,
> > or further questions, please let me know.
> > 
> > 
> > thanks in advance,
> > Herbert
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Regarding the old house we are trying to sell:
> > 
> > I created a web page which will contain all required
> > information for a buyer, and I'd like to promote that
> > page (especially in and around Austria), so some link
> > to that page would probably help a lot for major search
> > engines to pick it up, i.e. what I am asking is that
> > if you have a site where you can put a link to it, that
> > would be really appreciated.
> > 
> > 	http://www.reihenendhaus.at
> > (means end-of-terrace house in german)
> > 
> > sensible keywords would include:
> > Laaben, Reihenhaus, Garten, Siedlung, Verkauf 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
>