Why Plan 9


		  jrmu (jrmu@cloud9p.org)



			  ABSTRACT

	  Plan	9  provides  a	cleaner,  more	elegant
     approach to   distributed computing as a result of
     its adherence to	the Unix philosophy



Today's	Linux/BSD systems are heavily controlled  by  corpo-
rate  interests. It is unlikely	that these corporations	will
tolerate the Inter9's
 efforts to preserve user freedom on the Internet. Moreover,
the Inter9's
 users will be unable to make any significant impact or	con-
tribution  to  existing	 projects.  A  new project is needed
which is specifically chosen  for  the	task  of  connecting
together isolated networks.

     In	general, OpenBSD's goals do not	match the  Inter9's.
OpenBSD's  community  is  insular;  it	is  not	particularly
friendly towards, nor interested in, outreach to newbies. It
is  unlikely  that newbie contributions	would get integrated
into upstream. It may  not  accept  the	 Inter9's  goals  of
improving network equality and freedom.

     OpenBSD now receives the majority of its  funding	from
large corporate	contributors.  As of 2022,  its	 top  donors
include	 Google,  Meta,	and Microsoft. And unfortunately, it
too is heavily dependent on Linux's corporate ecosystem. For
example, efforts have been  made  to  add  wayland  support.
Most  Linux  distros  today  suffer  from  the second system
effect.	Components such	as Wayland and systemd are  becoming
too  complex  for average users	to understand and contribute
to. These are not merely technical concerns: many  of  these
software projects have vowed hostility towards user freedom.
Wayland	is dangerous because its parent	organization,  X.org
Foundation, has	called for a total boycott of the Free Soft-
ware Foundation.

__________________________
OpenBSD	Foundation Contributors
Wayland	on OpenBSD
X.org is signatory #61 in the RMS boycott petition



		     November 23, 2024






			   - 2 -


 Red Hat in particular has called for a	complete boycott  of
the FSF.

     If	Wayland	and systemd succeed, they will make it	dif-
ficult	 to   maintain	independent  UNIX  systems  (OpenBSD
included) that are not dependent upon IBM Red Hat's  ecosys-
tem.

     Besides corporate influence,  political  conflicts	 are
likely	to  affect  the	 Linux	ecosystem.  The	Linux kernel
itself is at risk of a potential fork in the  kernel  itself
due to sanctions.

     For these reasons,	the Inter9 community needs  to	have
its  own,  independent	system that it can work	on, specifi-
cally tailored to its goal of preserving democratic  control
of  networks.  An  independent	project	will best ensure the
Inter9 can achieve its goals of	user control of	the network.
Because	 the  Inter9 is	independently developed, it can	rely
on funding from	diverse	sources	to avoid the harmful  influ-
ences of corporate control.

     Plan 9
 provides an elegant, easy-to-learn,  and  highly  effective
development  environment  for  connecting together disparate
networks. Its small size  (10  to  100x	 smaller  than	most
Unix-like  distributions)  makes  it  easy to understand and
easy to	modify the code. By design, Plan 9 is a	 distributed
operating  system  that	 offers	  network transparency	 the
Unix philosophy	which helped propel  GNU/Linux	to  success.
Plan 9 will be used to build a new, federated internet.

     A few principles will be adopted. First, all users	will
be  welcome,  including	 novices.  Secondly,  users  will be
treated	as co-developers. Every	user will be  encouraged  to
code, and all contributions encouraged.	The Inter9 will	fol-
low the	bazaar model of	development.

     New code for Plan 9 can be	written	in both	C  and	Lua.
Lua provides a minimalist, high-level language that does not
suffer from heavy corporate influence. It will	allow  rapid
software  development  and  provides  a	 good alternative to
python,	javascript, rust, and go. Use of Lua is	encouraged.

     At	first, the method to popularize	Plan 9 is to install
it  inside  existing  operating	 systems like Linux and	BSD.
This will allow	users to  run  9  applications	while  still
__________________________
Red Hat	statement about	Richard	 Stallman's  return  to
the FSF
Linux  Kernel Networking Driver	Development Impacted By
Russian	Sanctions
See Eric S. Raymond's Cathedral	and the	Bazaar



		     November 23, 2024






			   - 3 -


retaining their	existing software. This	will allow Plan	9 to
immediately support all	existing hardware.

     Plan 9 offers many	alternatives  for  corporate  compo-
nents  used  by	Linux. For example, rio	presents a much	sim-
pler and more elegant alternative to Wayland.  Rio's  inter-
face also presents a lower learning curve than terminal	user
interface (TUI)	applications. acme is a	powerful text editor
that  fits  the	 Unix  philosophy.  It	effectively replaces
applications like vi and emacs that still rely	on  obsolete
teletype  computing  models.  This  makes  it easier for new
developers to learn to program for Plan	9. Writing GUIs	 for
unix-like  windowing  toolkits	is usually very	complex, but
rio makes it very simple. Unlike Wayland, Rio offers network
transparency today. It is ready	to use with mice, trackpads,
and touchscreens. Its code base	is far smaller.	It  provides
a good alternative to the obsolete X Windowing system.







































		     November 23, 2024