In late November of 2002, OpenBSD [1] creator Theo de Raadt [interview [1]] announced [2] on the project's mailing lists that after over a year of attempting to obtain useful UltraSparc III [3] documentation, they had still not made much headway. In the email he rallied the OpenBSD community to help out, asking them to contact the people within Sun responsible for providing such information. C/Net reported on this in their story titled, Open-source clan in spat with Sun [4]. The UltraSparc III is Sun's third generation 64-bit RISC architecture based processor.
Sun [5] boasts their UltraSparc III as an "open" architecture, yet seem to recognize that there is insufficient information freely available for the open source community to support it with operating systems. I have been told that the required documentation does exist, however, with a Sun part number of 805-0408-05-P. An early version of this manual was allegedly made available to Linux developers once a Confidential Disclosure Agreement was signed (Sun's version of a Non-Disclosure Agreement), however no such offer has been made to the OpenBSD team, an offer that if made is likely counter to the project's goals [6].
I attempted to discuss this issue with Danese Cooper [7] who works in Sun's Open Source Programs Office, with as of yet limited results. My goal is to gain a clear understanding of Sun's official position on this situation, something that to date they seem unwilling to discuss with me. My continued attempts to get direct answers are described within...
One of the great bonuses of open source projects is the accessibility of the developers. When I read about the lack of UltraSparc III documentation, I sent Theo de Raadt an email to learn more about this situation. He quickly replied, explaining, "The interfaces we need are just plain not documented." He went on to add, "[The OpenBSD project has] more docs on the "closed" hppa architecture than we do on the "open" ultrasparc III architecture."
Many have been quick to point out that as Linux supports the UltraSparc III architecture, it should be a simple matter for the OpenBSD project to learn what they need looking at this existing code. When I suggested this to Theo, he explained, "There are certain things that are easy to distill from other source code. Some device drivers are easy", while in contrast, "Caches and mmu's are not like that. The code to handle them ends up all over the place." Find his full explanation below [7].
My next step was to contact David Miller, who coded UltraSparc III support for Linux, asking for his opinion and wishing to learn more about the non-discloser agreement he is rumored to have signed. He quickly replied, "no comment", also expressing some annoyance that this issue hasn't been dropped.
Reviewing the earlier thread [8] on OpenBSD's "misc" mailing list, I began my attempt to gain an official answer from Sun, approaching Danese Cooper [9] on December 10'th. To her I sent a list of five direct questions [9], describing what I had read and asking for clarification. A week later I sent a followup email [9], as I had received no reply.
Finally, on January 6'th, I did receive a reply from Danese, explaining her delay to illness and vacation, noting, "I think I'm about ready to talk to you about this". I replied the same day, excited to finally, apparently be making progress toward obtaining answers to my questions. As it turned out, I did not hear from Danese again for three weeks, however unfortunately still leaving all of my questions unanswered.
So begins my education into large corporations, and the speed with which they move. When first reading Theo's email back in November, I assumed the lack of documentation was nothing more than a misunderstanding, as this is Sun, a company who has frequently offered significant contributions [10] to the open source community, and who has ironically accused Microsoft of similar "non-open transgressions". On their Linux page [11] they go so far as to say, "Linux is consistent with Sun's computing vision of employing open standards and nonproprietary interfaces to develop products and services that address the needs of a variety of environments." One begins to wonder if the UltraSparc III does not fall within this vision.
Thus far, the replies I've received to my questions lack any attempt to provide answers. What I assumed would be a straight forward process continues to drag on. If anyone reading this article works for Sun and is in a position to offer more substantial information, please drop me an email [12]. I will post a followup to this article once I've learned more.
In a more recent conversation with Theo, he explained to me that activism works [12]. OpenBSD's track record [12] in dealing with situations like this one is quite impressive, and he's confident that with time and community pressure, change will happen.
Theo's sometimes bluntly direct personality and efforts leave many with a negative impression, but it's difficult to deny that it has paid off for him. The OpenBSD project has continued to grow and evolve over the past eight years, living up to its slogan, "Free, Functional and Secure", and in all probability will one day support even the UltraSparc III.
danese.cooper@sun.com [13]
Subject: Sun UltraSparc III Documentation
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 20:18:01 -0500
Hello Danese,
I maintain an active web site that discusses open source kernels, and
have been following a lengthy thread on one of the OpenBSD mailing lists.
The OpenBSD founder, Theo de Raadt, explains that they are unable to
obtain sufficient documentation on the UltraSparc III, and thus they are
unable to support this "open" architecture with their operating system.
I'm in the process of writing an article about this situation, and I'm
hoping you could help clarify a few points points for me.
Are you the correct contact for this situation? If not, please let me
know who is and I'll happily redirect the following questions. I do wish
to quote you (or whomever may be the correct contact), is this okay?
1) Does Sun consider the UltraSparc III an open architecture? If so, can
you define what you mean by "open"? What limitations does this still
impose upon thorough documentation?
2) The OpenBSD team claims that the currently available documentation is
not sufficient to write a kernel. As I understand it, Ahmad Zandi at Sun
has agreed that this is a true statement. Why then has the OpenBSD team
been denied access to the necessary documentation required to support the
UltraSparc III architecture?
3) Theo has told me that he believes the reason these documents have not
been made available is to hide some "nasty bugs". Can you confirm or deny
this?
4) Theo claims that certain Linux developers have been provided more
UltraSparc III documentation than is publicly available. Can you confirm
or deny this?
5) Does Sun take this issue seriously? If so, what steps are being taken
to rectify the situation?
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my email. I would be
quite grateful if you could provide me complete answers to the above
questions, as I am interested in representing all parties objectively.
Thanks again,
-Jeremy
--
Jeremy Andrews <mailto:jeremy@kerneltrap.org>
PGP Key ID: 8F8B617A http://www.kerneltrap.org/danese.cooper@sun.com [14] Subject: Sun UltraSparc III Documentation [2nd communication attempt] Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 19:03:53 -0500 Hello Danese, I wrote you a week ago with a few questions regarding the UltraSparc III architecture in an attempt to understand issues reported by the OpenBSD team on their various development mailing lists. I will be posting a story on my kernel related news site (KernelTrap.org) regarding this issue, but I would very much like to get Sun's official views on the situation first. As stated in my original email, please let me know if you are the wrong contact for these types of questions. In that case, it would be greatly appreciated if you could then point me toward the correct contact. I received your email address from Mr. Theo de Raadt of the OpenBSD project who informed me that you were the contact that he has been speaking with. A response would be most appreciated. If I do not hear from you within the next two days, I will work my way up the list until I get a response from someone. My earlier email is included below for your convenience. Regards, -Jeremy Andrews -- Jeremy Andrews <mailto:jeremy@kerneltrap.org> PGP Key ID: 8F8B617A http://www.kerneltrap.org/