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Dtrace for Linux

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Re: Dtrace for Linux

#2

Post by bcantrill »

I had somehow missed this; this is excellent news! The Oracle port of DTrace to Linux is (far and away) the most complete port; Kris van Hees and team did a very thorough job[1], and I'm elated (and honestly, surprised) that they somehow prevailed on Oracle to do the right thing here!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElog3MvUC8

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#4

Post by jsiepkes »

Really cool! However isn't it a bit too late for DTrace to gain market share on Linux now SystemTap and all have gotten such a head start?

For me personally I like the idea of being able to use my DTrace skills (which I gained on FreeBSD and SmartOS) on Linux!

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#5

Post by rhinoceraptor »

bcantrill wrote: post #2

I had somehow missed this; this is excellent news! The Oracle port of DTrace to Linux is (far and away) the most complete port; Kris van Hees and team did a very thorough job[1], and I'm elated (and honestly, surprised) that they somehow prevailed on Oracle to do the right thing here! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElog3MvUC8

If ZFS were also relicensed, would Illumos be able to relicense OpenZFS as well, even with the divergence?

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#6

Post by Conan_Kudo »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #5
bcantrill wrote: post #2

I had somehow missed this; this is excellent news! The Oracle port of DTrace to Linux is (far and away) the most complete port; Kris van Hees and team did a very thorough job[1], and I'm elated (and honestly, surprised) that they somehow prevailed on Oracle to do the right thing here! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElog3MvUC8

If ZFS were also relicensed, would Illumos be able to relicense OpenZFS as well, even with the divergence?

If they can get in touch with the developers or their employers, then yes. OpenZFS could be fully relicensed as the main reason for not doing it is because of the substantial Oracle ZFS base code not being licensed appropriately.

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#7

Post by jsiepkes »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #5
bcantrill wrote: post #2

I had somehow missed this; this is excellent news! The Oracle port of DTrace to Linux is (far and away) the most complete port; Kris van Hees and team did a very thorough job[1], and I'm elated (and honestly, surprised) that they somehow prevailed on Oracle to do the right thing here! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElog3MvUC8

If ZFS were also relicensed, would Illumos be able to relicense OpenZFS as well, even with the divergence?

If Oracle's sources would be GPL'ed all OpenZFS changes would also have to be put under the GPL (or dual licensed) if you want to use those. OpenZFS doesn't have a CLA I think so that might be somewhat of a problem. Then again most ZFS changes were made by people for their employers (Joyent, Delphix, etc.) so it might be that only a few companies (...and Allan Jude ;-) need to give their blessing.

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#8

Post by 4ad »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #5
bcantrill wrote: post #2

I had somehow missed this; this is excellent news! The Oracle port of DTrace to Linux is (far and away) the most complete port; Kris van Hees and team did a very thorough job[1], and I'm elated (and honestly, surprised) that they somehow prevailed on Oracle to do the right thing here! [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElog3MvUC8

If ZFS were also relicensed, would Illumos be able to relicense OpenZFS as well, even with the divergence?

OpenZFS can't be relicensed as GPL since FreeBSD won't be able to use it.

Perhaps it could be dual-licensed, not sure, but that would be bad for FreeBSD as well. If it would be integrated into the mainline Linux kernel, I don't believe FreeBSD could merge back subsequent ZFS changes done on the Linux side.

If OpenZFS were relincensed and developed outside the mainline Linux tree (as it is now), FreeBSD would be able to get all changes, but it would still be annoying to actually use ZFS in Linux for the same reason it is annoying to use it now, even though the legal uncertainties would disappear.

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#9

Post by brendangregg »

Unfortunately for DTrace, this is too late. Oracle should have done this years ago. Now Linux has a more powerful tracer builtin, eBPF, and it would be a backwards step to switch the kernel code to DTrace (assuming the DTrace port is completed, which it is not). I'm sure this will not be lost on the maintainers, who have the ultimate say as to what is included in Linux mainline.

The only hope for DTrace is to have the frontend emit BPF bytecode. The bulk of this GPL DTrace code is no longer needed, only the user-level front end.

Re: Dtrace for Linux

#10

Post by insertnickname »

4ad wrote: post #8
rhinoceraptor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If ZFS were also relicensed, would Illumos be able to relicense OpenZFS as well, even with the divergence?

OpenZFS can't be relicensed as GPL since FreeBSD won't be able to use it. Perhaps it could be dual-licensed, not sure, but that would be bad for FreeBSD as well. If it would be integrated into the mainline Linux kernel, I don't believe FreeBSD could merge back subsequent ZFS changes done on the Linux side. If OpenZFS were relincensed and developed outside the mainline Linux tree (as it is now), FreeBSD would be able…

FreeBSD is OK with CDDL but not GPL?
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