15-412 Projects

Project Archive

Here are selected entries from the project archive...

AC'97 Audio Device Driver for the Plan 9 research operating system

Status: Completed by Bankim Bhavsar and Deepti Chheda

Namespace crossings for the Plan 9 research operating system

Status: Proof-of-concept completed by Wes Filardo

Implement the CART page-replacement algorithm in the Linux kernel

Status: completed by Rahul Iyer

Port the Plan 9 research operating system kernel to 32-bit PPC Macintosh systems

Status: proof-of-concept operational; submission in progress.

An overlay file system for the Plan 9 research operating system

Status: completed by Chao-Kuo Lin.

Adapt OpenAFS to the relevant Linux 2.6 kernel cataclysms

Status: completed by Jonathan Curley.

Proposals

Useful proprosal elements (not all elements apply to every proposal):

• Brief summary of what project does (link to summary page is fine)
• Statement on what you want to add
• Features of the existing code base:
  • brief outline of chunks of code base (e.g., per-platform "modules" vs. common-code "modules"), with lines-of-code breakdown by chunk
  • approximate percentage which is assembly language
  • status of compiler/linker/debugger tool chain (if non-standard)
  • license flavor
• Elements of what you propose to accomplish:
  • Lines of code you expect to write
  • Type of code you expect to write (plug-in, device driver, mutate 1% of every existing file, ...)
  • Rough count of files you intend to add/change (add one 2-file module; lightly edit 100 files, ...)
  • Rough milestone list (four or five phases, with a rough estimate of how many weeks per phase)
  • Vague responsibility breakdown (Terry will work on X, Kelly will work on Y; or maybe: Pat will be the hardware expert and Lee will be the software expert)
• Documentation
  • What necessary documentation do you already have?
  • What necessary documentation are you hoping you can find? Does the work depend on somebody agreeing to release something to you?
  • Are you expecting to rely on some body of source code as as documentation? If so, explain briefly.
• Expected start-up obstacles:
  • Does the work depend on a language you don't fully know?
  • Will it be necessary to install, configure, and learn some emulation environment?
  • Is there a tool which you will need to adjust/extend for your work?
  • Are you proposing to extend a protocol which you don't yet know?
• Hazards?
  • Is there some thing which you could discover which would put a stop to the whole project?
  • Is there some element of outside-CMU cooperation which might fall through?
• Hardware/space resources:
  • How many machines of what type will be necessary?
  • Which machines do you plan to provide? Do you have spares?
  • What equipment, if any, do you hope to install in the 412 lab? How many IP addresses do you expect to need?

These are probably elements for a second draft:

• As far as you know, are others working on similar goals?
• How will you test your work?
• What is the standard acceptance process for code in this project?
• Project road-map: maybe a 20-item todo list, or a boxes-and-arrows dependency chart showing what needs to happen before other things.

[Last modified Sunday August 30, 2009]