Since I've used Solaris since 2003, I installed OpenSolaris when it was released and it was my primary home system. When Oracle killed the project I came back to FreeBSD and also started using OpenBSD.
Since Vimage Jails are still too experimental I decided to have a look at OpenIndiana. Since OpenSMTPD is what I use for mail, I decided I'd try to build it on OI. The installation of OI went well, and the update went well too.
Next I installed Sun Studio 12.1 from the repository and then proceeded to download automake, autoconf, libtool, and m4. It took a while to find the correct versions of each, but bootstrap finally succeded! Next I was on to configure which failed because I didn't have Berkeley DB headers. So I installed the db-4 package from sunfreeware.com. Next it needed libintl, libiconv, and libevent. It also needed libgcc. The next problem was it couldn't find the headers even though I had them in the path, so did a soft link to /usr/include and that problem was solved.
Back to configure which started to run but then failed because it couldn't find the event header config files. Those were soft linked to /usr/include like the Berkeley DB headers, but each time it failed.
It was late so I decided to stop for the night and powered off the laptop. Today I decided I'd try again with the libevent headers but to my surprise, even though OpenIndiana booted up to a console login, the keyboard wasn't responsive. I've rebooted into FreeBSD and OpenBSD on different drives and they work, just OI is whacked.
But this isn't the first issue I've had with OI. The day before last, I installed OI and started my software installs and rebooted. When it came back up my /opt/sunstudio12.1 and /usr/local/bin directories were completely gone.
It is hard to say why I have had so many problems because OpenSolaris was rock-solid. But after two wasted days on OpenIndiana I don't believe I will try it again. Too inconsistent and unstable. But I like the Zones and Crossbow implementations, and the beadm environment.
Maybe someday it will be more stable. I've read they don't have many resources, but neither does the OpenBSD project and they release consistently. OI has said they were going to release a stable version in Q4 2011 and still nothing. There has been indication it is also due to collaboration with Nexenta and merging resources. I received an email thread from the oi-dev list and someone had problems for a long time and referenced a problem that existed for months that went unheeded. Finally a developer responded he was getting back to work on the "little project" and gave an answer. One shouldn't have to wait months for an answer.
I honestly don't know if the OpenIndiana distribution will survive.
Has anyone else had experiences with OI?
Since Vimage Jails are still too experimental I decided to have a look at OpenIndiana. Since OpenSMTPD is what I use for mail, I decided I'd try to build it on OI. The installation of OI went well, and the update went well too.
Next I installed Sun Studio 12.1 from the repository and then proceeded to download automake, autoconf, libtool, and m4. It took a while to find the correct versions of each, but bootstrap finally succeded! Next I was on to configure which failed because I didn't have Berkeley DB headers. So I installed the db-4 package from sunfreeware.com. Next it needed libintl, libiconv, and libevent. It also needed libgcc. The next problem was it couldn't find the headers even though I had them in the path, so did a soft link to /usr/include and that problem was solved.
Back to configure which started to run but then failed because it couldn't find the event header config files. Those were soft linked to /usr/include like the Berkeley DB headers, but each time it failed.
It was late so I decided to stop for the night and powered off the laptop. Today I decided I'd try again with the libevent headers but to my surprise, even though OpenIndiana booted up to a console login, the keyboard wasn't responsive. I've rebooted into FreeBSD and OpenBSD on different drives and they work, just OI is whacked.
But this isn't the first issue I've had with OI. The day before last, I installed OI and started my software installs and rebooted. When it came back up my /opt/sunstudio12.1 and /usr/local/bin directories were completely gone.
It is hard to say why I have had so many problems because OpenSolaris was rock-solid. But after two wasted days on OpenIndiana I don't believe I will try it again. Too inconsistent and unstable. But I like the Zones and Crossbow implementations, and the beadm environment.
Maybe someday it will be more stable. I've read they don't have many resources, but neither does the OpenBSD project and they release consistently. OI has said they were going to release a stable version in Q4 2011 and still nothing. There has been indication it is also due to collaboration with Nexenta and merging resources. I received an email thread from the oi-dev list and someone had problems for a long time and referenced a problem that existed for months that went unheeded. Finally a developer responded he was getting back to work on the "little project" and gave an answer. One shouldn't have to wait months for an answer.
I honestly don't know if the OpenIndiana distribution will survive.
Has anyone else had experiences with OI?
