xref: /netbsd-src/doc/TODO (revision 1893680ccf3e6ec11867d363b4453f4c1d3cb14f)
1#	$NetBSD: TODO,v 1.11 2004/05/27 03:46:32 agc Exp $
2
3THINGS TO BE DONE:
4
5[ Note that this list does not include change requests filed via 'gnats'.
6  For information about them, mail query-pr@NetBSD.org. ]
7
8This is a list of things that need to be done for NetBSD.  Some of
9these projects are small, others are large.  Some are extremely
10important, others are enhancements to make the system more flexible
11for the wide variety of NetBSD users and their applications.
12
13In general there are some guidelines for work to be included in
14NetBSD.  Chief among these are:
15
16	   (1) Keep GPLed stuff out of the kernel.
17	   (2) Introduce little to no more GPLed stuff as non-optional
18	       components of the user environment.
19	   (3) Only clean code, that lends itself to further enhancement
20	   (4) Keep architecture dependent code out of architecture independent
21	       directories
22
23Associated with some entries are login names which indicate persons or
24groups who may already be working on that problem.  This isn't to say
25that others shouldn't also look at it, but consultation with other
26parties may result in less duplicated work.  A directory of these
27persons can be found after the todo list itself.
28
29Please don't hesitate to suggest more projects for this list.
30Suggestions, comments, etc to projects@NetBSD.org.
31
32High Kernel:
33    swap fixes:
34	swap to file of dynamic size; see apollo
35    nfs:
36	kernel support for lockd(8), lockf(3)
37    clean up support for LKM and protections checking (cgd)
38
39User programs:
40    rwall nfs-mountees on shutdown
41    add detachment to window
42    clean up gas config files, set up common defines
43
44Pie-in-the-Sky:
45    someone should actually test all the netiso stuff.
46    SMB filesystem
47
48Documentation:
49    modify sys docs to reflect NetBSD/arch-specific stuff
50    clean up src/share/man/{man0,tools} so that we can generate a printable
51        version from the manpages again.
52
53i386 kernel support:
54    better ways of accessing BIOS, i/o space.  some exportable to
55	user space.  See mach3,linux dos emulator
56    i686 optimized versions of copyin/copyout/memcpy/memset/etc. lazy
57        floating-point context switching should be implemented as well.
58    make use of sysenter/sysexit instructions on PIII/4 and Athlon for
59        reducing syscall overhead.
60
61This is a list of suggested smaller projects (in no particular order):
62
63+ speed up sort(1) by using mmap(2) rather than temp files
64+ autoconf version of nawk, for use in non-NetBSD pkgsrc
65+ port valgrind to NetBSD for pkgsrc, then use it to do an audit of
66  any memory leakage
67+ implement POSIX async IO
68+ help in implementing various things in pkgsrc
69+ simplify some of the quirks in our build system
70+ help out with scripts for tgm/autobuild
71+ some PR fixing/re-categorising/investigating/closing
72+ investigate zebra or quagga in gnusrc rather than routed
73+ do a type-punned pointer sweep for gcc3 (and fix the problems, not
74  the symptoms)
75+ kernel fine-grained locking
76+ write a BSD-licensed web browser
77+ write a BSD-licensed privacy guard like gnupg or pgp
78+ perhaps look at putting wonka into src/ (with uuencoded class lib?)
79+ investigate ProPolice
80+ document autoconf framework
81+ write an overview document for openssl and certificates
82+ documentation project help
83+ investigate which userland utilities and daemons would benefit from
84  kqueue, and rewrite them
85+ better testing in general; in particular, more regression tests
86+ better LKM version checking
87+ add a native scheme interpreter
88+ add platform support for TenDRA compiler suite
89+ merge moused(8) with wsmoused(8) as a new work mode (i.e. serial)
90