FACES OF FREEBSD
Each week we are sharing a story
from someone involved in FreeBSD. This is our Faces of FreeBSD series. It may
be a story from someone who’s received funding from us to work on development
projects, run conferences, travel to conferences, or advocate for FreeBSD. Or, it may be from someone who gives back to FreeBSD financially or in another way. But,
it is always from someone who is making a positive difference in the FreeBSD
world.
Here’s a chance to get to know your
fellow FreeBSD enthusiast. Sit back and enjoy another 2013 Faces of FreeBSD
story.
Brooks' Story
I’m a
Senior Software Engineer for SRI International, working on multiple clean slate
research projects using FreeBSD as
the operating system for research on the hardware-software interface. A FreeBSD committer since 2001 and core
team member from 2006 through 2012, I've built an HPC cluster based on FreeBSD, implemented an internal source
code sharing system with FreeBSD and
Trac, and most recently helped port FreeBSD
to an open source CPU to enable architecture, systems, and security research.
I've also helped drive our transition from a GNU toolchain to a more
modern LLVM based toolchain.
Outside
the world of computing I’m a foodie, gardener, home brewer of beer, mead and
cider, woodworker, and blacksmith.
My
first exposure to FreeBSD was a
floppy disk-based SLIP router installed in my high school in 1993/4 by a local FreeBSD-based ISP. Distracted as a Solaris admin during college,
I returned to FreeBSD almost
immediately after graduation when FreeBSD
made it trivial to set up a PPP router at home. The Aerospace Corporation,
my first post-college job, involved working with FreeBSD due to our extensive use of dummynet in our research labs.
Over the next decade-plus I spread FreeBSD
from the lab to the largest computing cluster at the company and to an internal
sourceforge.net-like system hosting over 350
projects.
Now I
work to make FreeBSD better, such as
working on toolchain and build system issues with a focus on medium to large
embedded systems. Our research group developed an open source CPU based on the 64-bit MIPS ISA that we use to explore the
hardware-software interface. I maintained Clang and LLVM ports, enhanced
the FreeBSD build and release system
to work without root permissions, and wrote and modified device drivers for our
platform. I also maintained a number of high performance computing related
ports including Sun Grid Engine and Ganglia as well as a number of Trac modules.
One of
the reasons I like FreeBSD is the
community involved in the process of building a principled, technically-advanced
operating system platform. Not only do we produce a great product, but we have
fun doing it.
I
appreciate how the FreeBSD Foundation
has helped me both directly and indirectly to attend conferences, developer’s
meetings, vendor summits, and events like Google Summer of Code mentors
summits. I’ve received travel grants for a number of these events and the
FreeBSD Foundation sponsors many BSD
conferences where I have presented, including AsiaBSDCon, BSDCan, EuroBSDCon,
and BSDDay Argentina.
Donating
to the FreeBSD Foundation is an easy
way to support FreeBSD. Even the
smallest donation helps as your mere presence as a donator demonstrates
community support. I'm excited by the early results of the FreeBSD Foundation’s recent expansion of staff and look forward to
continued growth. I donate every year.
Brooks Davis
Donate today to help us continue and increase our support of
the FreeBSD Project and community worldwide! Making a donation is quick and
easy. To make a donation go to: http://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate/
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