1.2.0 is our second major DragonFly release and the first one which we
have created a separate CVS branch for. DragonFly's policy is to only
commit bug fixes to release branches.
This release represents a significant milestone in our efforts to
improve the kernel infrastructure. DragonFly is still running under
the Big Giant Lock, but this will probably be the last release where
that is the case.
This will be last release that uses GCC 2.95.x as the default
compiler. Both GCC 3.4.x and GCC 2.95.x are supported in this release
through the use of the CCVER environment variable ('gcc2' or 'gcc34').
GCC 2.95.x is to be retired soon due to its lack of TLS support. The
current development branch will soon start depending heavily on TLS
support and __thread both within the kernel and in libc and other
libraries. This release fully supports TLS segments for programs
compiled with gcc-3.4.x.
It goes without saying that this release is far more stable then our
1.0A release. A huge number of bug fixes, performance improvements,
and design changes have been made since the 1.0A release.
TCP SACK in, tested, and on by default.
TCP Performance tuning (header prediction now works properly, ACK
aggregation when operating at GiGE speeds, fewer pure window update
packets).
Major network protocol stack threading and other infrastructure work.
ALTQ and PF (Packet Filter).
TLS (Thread Local Storage) support.
DCONS support (console over firewire).
IPv6 improvements.
Namecache infrastructure rewritten.
Improved checkpointing support.
NFSv3 greatly improved.
Kernel callout_*() infrastructure revamped.
A lot of USB fixes.
VESA console and X support.
A large number of general maintainance items, such as driver updates,
bug fixes, and so forth.
Upgraded installer includes an option to turn it into a standalone
netboot server for mass installs, bug fixes, and other new features.
The RELEASE is now branched in the cvs repository.