Ros-dev

ros-dev@reactos.org

5790 discussions

Re: [ros-dev] Bye bye
by Radovan Skolnik 19 Jan '06

19 Jan '06

Gentlemen, I'd never thought I'd take part in such a debate. Let me comment from a position of someone who's been folowing this project with great anticipation and high hopes. First of all I must say Alex's work and commitment to the project is outstanding. Maybe it is that he somehow makes his work most visible (I'm not trying to diminish the great work that all contributors have done). However the discussion here is about something else. I do not think the discussion should be going along the lines if things can be done any other way or not. Also I wouldn't think that what someone called 'intent' is the most important thing (it maybe would be if it saved lives of people). The thing here is not about whether Alex understands the code he put into SVN (extensively) commented. Let me provide an example here on a bit different level: suppose I like what a commercial(!) Java (or any other decompilable language) program does and decide to implement an open-source implementation. Would it be acceptable if I used decompiler to produce a readable code, study it, understand it, copy and paste those decompiled sources into my project and comment it extensively? I do not think so. The argument of understanding the code is irrelevant in this case as it is irrelevant in ReactOS's case. Is there so much difference between decompiled Java source code and disassembled binary (especially when the source has been assembly probably)? The issue here is about the method and I believe (and that makes me sad) the method Alex used was against the law and no good intent can change that. I think copy-and-paste is illegal under any circumstances (I am strong oponnent of American patent law). I wish very much that Alex and Hartmut as well continue to work on this project and we see a day when it becomes an alternative to Windows. But this case puts the project into big danger in my opinion. Just my 2cents. Best regards Radovan Skolnik

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Recent Developments
by M Bealby 19 Jan '06

19 Jan '06

Recent developments have been quite heated recently, and I would just like to add in some of my own opinions. If code was directly copied from Windows then it should be removed. Period. This is against the aims and charter of this project. If Windows was only disassembled to gain information on how it works then I think this falls under fair use. Whether a spec should have been written and another person implement the spec is a topic which I'm sure will be discussed for a while to come. This is my point of view on the matter and I will not discuss it further. It is unfortunate that WaxDragon is also leaving the project, I'm sure he will be missed. But people do have lives to lead as well. I'm sure that in the future I will have to leave the ReactOS project too, and probably for the same reasons, such as family and work. Ideally I would like all developers / testers and other contributers to stay with the project, but I understand that this isn't feasible and I respect them for what they have contributed during their lifetime with the project. I devote some of my spare time to the ReactOS project for two main reasons: 1. I wish to learn more about operating system development. 2. I wanted to practice my code auditing and security skills on a project that was of a size that was not too large and mature (e.g. Linux), while not being so small to be insignificant (various other home-brew OSs). Number one is coming along nicely as I'm learning about various topics such as memory management and how drivers work. Number two is coming along as well, although much slowly as code auditing a fast moving project such as this is very time consuming and I have been very busy lately. I currently see ReactOS at the same stage of Linux in the mid nineties. People run it, play with it and contribute to it. The size of this group of people is not large, but they are usually technically minded and their number is sufficient for the project to grow and continue. Development is happening at a fast pace and keeping up can be time consuming at the moment. Lets not try and loose our drive and ambition here. You have implemented a fairly significant amount of the Windows operating system in a relatively short amount of time. You have contributed code to other projects such as WINE. You have a large number of applications that can already run on the system. You have achieved a lot, don't stop now. I think that ReactOS is at a critical stage in development and once is becomes a little more stable we will see a large increase in the number of users beta testing and trying it out. I wish the ReactOS project to succeed and it is something that I think will occur eventually. To all of ReactOS' developers, testers and supporters: You are doing a great job, don't stop now. Cheers, Martin

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'Tis the season
by WaxDragon 19 Jan '06

19 Jan '06

I hereby resign from the position of Testing Coordinator. Casper, could you please disable my svn account? I am leaving for a variety of reasons. First of all, I wish to spend more of my precious free time with my family. Second, work has become more demanding of my time. There are many other reasons, including the way major project issues are handled, and the fact I have not been able to keep up with the testing and improvements I wished to implement. This decision has been a long time coming. It's been great getting to know the ReactOS developers and community, and have learned a great deal from many of you. I will still stop in IRC occasionally, and will continue to follow the project. I think the Testing Coordinator position is a very important position, and it needs to be filled. I feel that I was able to make a direct impact on the quality of ReactOS, even though I am not a real developer. I am willing to provide assistance and information to anyone who wishes to step up to the position. KEEP FILING BUGS! Andrew Munger (WaxDragon)

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Where is SVN
by wac 19 Jan '06

19 Jan '06

Hi folks: I was trying to update mi local mirror and fuond that the SVN server is no longer the same. Wich is the new Address. Thanks in advance Regards Waldo Alvarez On 1/16/06, Richard <eek2121(a)comcast.net> wrote: > > I think it's time for me to hit up bugzilla, anyways, Firefox setup from > mozilla.com no longer works, it just dies, and the 'get firefox' link > results in an access denied in the middle of FF setup. > > Every 3rd or 4th boot ROS also does not have a mouse pointer. It may be > frozen, i can't tell. > > Regressions...Regressions...Regressions... > Richard > _______________________________________________ > Ros-dev mailing list > Ros-dev(a)reactos.org > http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev >

4 4

was bye bye
by Hartmut Birr 18 Jan '06

18 Jan '06

Hi, many people mailed to me directly. Sorry, If I didn't answered all of them. Sorry if I only answer in the evening (EU). I've a day-job and my WAF doesn't like ReactOS really. - Hartmut

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Enough is enough
by Ge van Geldorp 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

I think having to debug Alex's latest breakage (bugcheck at the end of 2nd stage setup) so I can continue debugging one of his earlier breakages (bug 1263) is asking just a bit too much. I'll go do something non-ReactOS related for the next couple of days. GvG

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Another bug...
by Richard 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

I think it's time for me to hit up bugzilla, anyways, Firefox setup from mozilla.com no longer works, it just dies, and the 'get firefox' link results in an access denied in the middle of FF setup. Every 3rd or 4th boot ROS also does not have a mouse pointer. It may be frozen, i can't tell. Regressions...Regressions...Regressions... Richard

1 0

uhhh...
by Richard 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

When you click 'view GPL' for second stage setup, a license agreement comes up for something called Gnomovision. This should not be the case. I would change it myself but i don't have my svn password handy. Richard

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Strange Stretch Problem
by James Tabor 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

Hi all, Can anyone see the problem with this picture? Every time I move the window, it looks like back behind the window, it gets redrawn. Thanks, James

4 8

Bug in KiFastCallEntry
by Hartmut Birr 16 Jan '06

16 Jan '06

Hi, it seems we have a little bug in KiFastCallEntry. It is initialized a trap frame on the stack. It is a trap frame without the v86 segment registers. ESP points to TSS->ESP0 - sizeof(KTRAP_FRAME) + 16. 16 for the missing v86 segment register. ESP is compared with KTHREAD->InitialStack - 0x29c. 0x29c is equal to sizeof(FX_SAVE_AREA) + sizeof(KTRAP_FRAME). If the compare operation fails, it is called BadStack which results in a v86 invalid opcode exception. To bypass this bug, there is added a value of 0x10 to TSS->ESP0 in Ke386InitThreadWithContext. A friend of me has looked to WinXp. He has found a piece of code which is an exact copy of BadStack and he has found a piece of code which looks like this: _KiFastCallEntry: ... /* Use the thread's stack */ mov ebp, [esi+KTHREAD_INITIAL_STACK] ... /* Make space for us on the stack */ sub ebp, 0x29C /* Write the previous mode */ mov byte ptr [esi+KTHREAD_PREVIOUS_MODE], UserMode /* Sanity check */ cmp ebp, esp jnz BadStack ... - Hartmut

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