John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code • Hacker News Board

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#31

Post by Icedcool » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:45 PM UTC

Icedcool wrote: post #9

Cool and exciting. Carmack has a level of brilliance that I find astounding. Some of his youtube video's of him talking about graphic rendering and compression are really cool.

For anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUxcVzpeFqc&list=PL-wlZ9j-w5...

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#32

Post by yuribro » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

This is such a positive and wholesome example - both the mail itself (getting to know the preferences of the project), the proposed fixes (naming functions in a better way, adding explanatory comments), and on the higher level - the humility in which it was done, and the time being invested by him for a project he isn't part of.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#33

Post by cptnapalm » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #24

As someone who is not following closely, did he ever mention why he is looking into alternative OS? And why OpenBSD instead of say NetBSD or FreeBSD? I assume he has many experience with linux already.

While I can't say for sure, during a hole-up-for-a-week-to-learn a couple of years ago, he decided on neural networks and OpenBSD. He commented favorably on its opinionatedness. I'm suppose he liked the system and decided to contribute.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#34

Post by yellowapple » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

Lammy wrote: post #17

s_dev wrote: post #16

Is it possible Occulus has a big need for such an OS and this is the cause of the contributions? Or is this Carmack being a hobbyist and simply making contributions for its own sake?

I assumed his use of an armadilloaerospace address was a signal that it isn't work-related.

Or perhaps he's bringing Armadillo Aerospace back and wants to use OpenBSD for guidance and control?

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#35

Post by deltron3030 » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

mikorym wrote: post #23

Is there any more context to OP's post? I guess someone just noticed in the mailing list, but it's not clear whether maybe John Carmark does this with all code everywhere in the universe. And then probably still has some interesting coffee break conversations... On a different note. I am something of a Ubuntu fan and try to be more involved there. But then again the xBSDs where x = {Free, Open, Net, ...} are one of t…

>Is there any more context to OP's post? I guess someone just noticed in the mailing list, but it's not clear whether maybe John Carmark does this with all code everywhere in the universe.

I remember a story about Carmack going off the grid with a laptop and OpenBSD for a couple of weeks, and him being delighted about their documentation and the ability to build things without access to the web.

Carmack is a hero in the C community, and OpenBSD is also all about C and classic Unix, so he might just feel at home there.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#36

Post by yuribro » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

mikorym wrote: post #23

Is there any more context to OP's post? I guess someone just noticed in the mailing list, but it's not clear whether maybe John Carmark does this with all code everywhere in the universe. And then probably still has some interesting coffee break conversations... On a different note. I am something of a Ubuntu fan and try to be more involved there. But then again the xBSDs where x = {Free, Open, Net, ...} are one of t…

I would suggest to just install OpenBSD and try it (maybe in a VM?), one of the selling points is the simplicity of the setup process. It can be a one evening project.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#37

Post by AndrewBissell » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #24

As someone who is not following closely, did he ever mention why he is looking into alternative OS? And why OpenBSD instead of say NetBSD or FreeBSD? I assume he has many experience with linux already.

He wrote awhile back about why he chose OpenBSD to get more familiar with Unix during a coding retreat. tl;dr: the offline documentation and quality of the source code were major draws for him working with slow/no internet.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722...

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#38

Post by yfiapo » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

That's neat to see. This may not be a big story but as a fan of OpenBSD who doesn't currently have time to read the CVS log I appreciate it.

OpenBSD source is one of the cleanest I've had the pleasure to work with. You (generally) won't be scoffed at for submitting a semantic change like this, fixing typos, or the like. It certainly isn't perfect but the bar feels higher than elsewhere. Clean code and as importantly the documentation kept in sync.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#39

Post by Insanity » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

wmichelin wrote: post #20

Here is your daily reminder to read "Masters of Doom", a book about the early days at ID Software. It's an amazing look into a really cool time in gaming and software as a whole. It's a great book, mostly about John Carmack and the guys at ID! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Doom

It's a great book, and they're also turning it into a series. :)

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#40

Post by rhacker » Mon, May 18, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

mikorym wrote: post #23

Is there any more context to OP's post? I guess someone just noticed in the mailing list, but it's not clear whether maybe John Carmark does this with all code everywhere in the universe. And then probably still has some interesting coffee break conversations... On a different note. I am something of a Ubuntu fan and try to be more involved there. But then again the xBSDs where x = {Free, Open, Net, ...} are one of t…

To me this kind of stuff is fan junk news. I get that even hackers need celebrities, but front page of HN is a little extreme for a thing like this without context. If there was more context like, John C has re-written half of BSD, then we're talking - but this is very celebrity grocery list to me.