Plan 9 from Outer Space

The Spirit of Unix :: Set Free :: From Stupid MS Windows / FreeBSD / Gnu Linux "Horrible Standards!"

The history of Plan 9

Started in the mid 1980’s at Bell Labs by the same team that created Unix.
First full time users in 1989, in production since then.
Four public releases
1st Ed (1993): First public release, only to universities.
2nd Ed (1995): First general public release.
Inferno 1st Ed (1997): Based in many of the ideas and technologies in Plan 9.
3rd Ed (2000): First freerelease including source code; codename Brazil.
4th Ed (2002): Approved Open Source license.
Inferno 4th Ed (2005): Released under GPL/MIT license.

Still in active development.
Daily ISObuilds.
Continuous updates delivered over 9p/replica.
Any user can submit changes using a simple patch creation and tracking system.
Repository of contributed programs and other resources in/n/sources/contrib/.

Some background history: In the beginning...

Multics:
Multiuser.
Multiprocessing.
Multiprogramming.
Big, slow, bloated and complex.

While Multics collapsed under its own weight, Ken Thompson started to play with aPDP-7.

Unix

What was different: Small, fast, lean and simple.
In other words: KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid!
Unix distilled and polished many of the Multics ideas, and added some of its own.
Hierarchical filesystem.
Everything is a file.
Each tool does one thing and does it well.
Processes communicate and interact through pipes.
Text is the universal language.
Written in a high-level language.

"This was mostly true in the 1970’s, since then, little has improved and now somethings are even worse!"

What was wrong with Unix (FreeBSD/Linux) ?
"Not only is UNIX dead, it’s starting to smell really bad." − Rob Pike circa 1991 ie:Rotten

Designed as an old fashion time sharing system, has trouble adapting to a world of networks and workstations.
The advantages of time sharing were lost in the switch to workstations: Centralized management and administration, amortization of costs and resources.

Many features badly retrofitted over the years(eg., graphics, networking.)
Lots of hanging historical baggage.
Loss of conceptual integrity.
Unix is not simple anymore.

What Plan 9 doesn’t have... Doesnt want & doesnt need!
root, suid
tty, curses
ioctl
sockets
select/poll
symlinks
pthreads
mmap
dynamiclinking
loadablekernel modules
locales
gcc
C++
emacs(or vi)
X11
XML
WEB2.0

Plan 9 distills and polishes many of the Unix ideas; and adds some of its own.
New kernel: designed to be portable and support SMP.
New compilers: small, fast and portable, cross compiling is the same as compiling.
New libraries: simpler and less error-prone.
New user interface: takes advantage of modern display and input devices.
New tools: debugger, text editors, mail system, network database, etc.
All components designed to work well together in a distributed environment.
Back to the original Unix roots: Simplicity, Clarity and Generality

To really understand Plan 9, you have to unlearn the last 30 years of BSD/Linux & Unix.
The similarities are big enough to create false expectations.

On BSD/Linux etc, you break in as the User::Root and this give's you access to absolutely "Everything!"
On Plan 9, you break in as the User::None and this give's you access to absolutely "Nothing!"

Linux
Over 300 syscalls and counting; hundreds(thousands?) of ioctls.
4,827,671 lines of code.
Others not better... Unix not small anymore.

Plan9
37 syscalls; no networking related syscalls; no ioctls.
148,787 lines of code.
Optional real-time scheduler.
Microkernel or monolithic kernel? Who cares?
Inside the kernel or outside the kernel? Do what makes most sense, you can change it later without breaking the interface.
Pragmatic, not dogmatic design.

Lightweight network filesystem (but in Plan 9, everything is a file.)
Not block oriented, byte oriented.
Minimalistic and lightweight: Only 13 message types (NFSv3 has 22, NFSv4 has 42)
Can run over any reliable transport (directly over TCP, IL, RUDP, PPP, shared memory, serial port connections, PCI bus and others)
Encompassing: used for local and remote access; for synthetic and physical files.
Authentication and encryption agnostic.
Designed for transparent caching and stacking.

More secure by design than Windows / FreeBSD / Linux!

If you dont believe it and your playing with your precious copy of Back-Track or Kali Linux right now, then do me a favour... Open XTerm and type "stty" then hit "return" now tell me why does your Terminal Window have a Baud Rate?

Secure networking protocol by design, when used in tandem with Inferno it uses it's own protocol 9P2000 and transmittion is all encrypted from the Server to the Client & Vice Versa because it is both the Server & the Client!

Download Link: https://code.google.com/p/plan9front/

If you thought BSD Users where arrogent you aint seen nothing yet!



Follow the White Rabbit! "That Bunny has a Vicious Streak a Mile Wide!"



Security Enhanced Linux (NSA/CIA/GCHQ) +Various other CREST or CEH Accredited Pentesting Morons...
"We're going to Hack the Planet && take over the world!"


Plan 9 Community


Research OS targetted to enthusiasts and professional hackers... Secure, Transparent (invisible) Caching, Server.
Hackable from the inside (Yes) Hackable from the Outside (No)

Aros Research OS targetted to enthusiasts and professional hackers for the AMIGA 2000+ Hackable from the inside (Yes) Hackable from the Outside (No)

Kolibri OS targetted to enthusiasts and professional hackers written in high-level assembler. Hackable from the inside (Yes) Hackable from the outside (No)

How much did you actually pay to learn computer security? Feeling ripped off?

Good, good, let the Butthurt flow through you!

it's always nice to meet other "Professional's" that dont know the first thing about it!