Xref: utzoo comp.os.minix:8050 comp.protocols.nfs:541
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!convex!thurlow@convex.com
From: thurlow@convex.com (Robert Thurlow)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,comp.protocols.nfs
Subject: Re: NFS service
Message-ID: <3267@convex.UUCP>
Date: 21 Nov 89 02:32:59 GMT
References: <730@crash.cts.com>
Sender: news@convex.UUCP
Lines: 30

jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes:
>Not even SCO Xenix supports NFS.  SCO claims that there's no way to implement
>it easily.  This may be true, but I do know that TCP/IP exists for SCO Xenix
>via the Xenix-Net package SCO sells.

I'm working on NFS right now for Convex.  The big requirement is a
BSD-socket TCP/IP implementation; given that, I'd suspect it to be
do-able, but who knows.  You *have* to have that socket interface,
though, and it has to be honest - the Sun stuff is pretty comfortable
on real BSD in that area :-)

>....  But I do know that Sun won't sell it to an end user, so don't expect
>NFS unless somebody with an interest in Minix who has the pull to get it
>decides to implement it.  I know NFS has some heavy copyrights and trademarks
>on it.

This is only partly right.  While Sun's implementation is copyrighted,
the NFS protocol has been released to the public-domain, and anyone
with patience can write one.  Further, RPC, on which NFS is based, can
be had in the public domain, which removes a lot of the nasty work.
Doing a server is not so bad as I see it, but a client needs the
file-system switch.  Not that I'm about to do either.  I've seen the
Sun code anyway, so I'd probably not be able to do a work-alike without
being extremely careful.

Rob T,
who is not speaking about anything on behalf of Convex Computer Corporation.
--
Rob Thurlow, thurlow@convex.com
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."