[OFFER] Solaris 11 Beta?

[Courage]

Hello,

I found this weird version of Solaris (on a FTP) that refers to itself as SunOS 5.11 snv_24 (technically Solaris 11 snv_24). The files inside the ISO's are dated June 2005, which makes me pretty sure it's a beta. However, the install process reminds me too much of Solaris 10 for some reason.

I researched a bit on this, and I found that Solaris 11 was codenamed 'Nevada' and its betas used a naming scheme like 'Nevada Build 72'. So, could this be a 'Nevada Build 24'?

Screenshot:



UPDATE:

It's not just the install process, the WHOLE OS looks and feels like early versions of Solaris 10. (It also has CDE!) However, it is a early beta of Solaris 11 as seen in the following screenshot:



I could upload this in a few days/weeks (probably before December).

UPDATE 2:

I also found the following betas of Solaris 11:

46
50
51a
53
72
74
79b
101
103
114

However, I cannot download them due to bandwidth problems. I can (eventually) upload them, but no promises.

[bckf]

Yes, the codename for the development version of Solaris 11 was initially Nevada.
The project started in June 2005 under an open source license, so this is probably the first public release and obviously still shared a lot of code with Solaris 10 (out in early 2005). The binary distribution was known as Solaris Express.
The project was later renamed to Indiana, while the codebase/distribution was called OpenSolaris. It was kind of a big thing in the open source community back in 2008/2009.

The higher build numbers probably refer to monthly builds of the OpenSolaris codebase.
I have a kinda rare snv99 (pre-release 2008.11) and the popular 111b (2009.06).
In 2010 after the Oracle acquisition the development switched to a closed source model, with the last build of OpenSolaris being number 134. This build was publicly released in late 2010 as Solaris 11 Express (I have that too).
No other builds were released until Oracle Solaris 11 came out in 2011.
The OpenSolaris code was forked anyway and development still continues thank to the Illumos project. They even release a binary distribution called OpenIndiana.

I don't know if these could be accepted on the FTP, being open source, non-Windows and not a dump of an original support.
But they are quite rare and certainly deserving of preservation, as OpenSolaris is an important milestone of software history, even if it never enjoyed success.
I'm very interested in these builds, I remeber there was a time when I was looking for Solaris Express ISOs but didn't find any.
Any chance of you sharing the server address?

[DiskingRound]

Yes, we want to know the FTP server's address so we can check the betas out. We need to wait for him to log in (which he hasn't since monday).

[Courage]

Here are where I found them: (Some are x86 builds and some are SPARC builds):

http://www.filewatcher.com/_/?q=sol-nv-*

PS: I got the addresses from filewatcher.com (A bit convienient, otherwise I would need to post each link seperately), and the links work. I've checked each one of them. Note that the build number is found in the filenames as b**, where ** is the build number.

[DiskingRound]

Here are where I found them: (Some are x86 builds and some are SPARC builds):

http://www.filewatcher.com/_/?q=sol-nv-*

PS: I got the addresses from filewatcher.com (A bit convienient, otherwise I would need to post each link seperately), and the links work. I've checked each one of them. Note that the build number is found in the filenames as b**, where ** is the build number.

There's Nevada builds 64a and 70b in ftp://80.250.174.155/pub/distro/os/open ... ess_dev_ed.

Offtopic Comment

There are also references to Nevada builds 75, 76, 77 and 78 here: http://osdir.com/ml/os.solaris.opensola ... 00124.html

[bckf]

Thank you Courage, great job!
I honestly thought these ISOs were lost after all these years (they all date to 2005-2009).
I think it's a good example of how open source software can become hard to find, when the project ceases activity and nobody is hosting mirrors.
Good thing a few FTPs are keeping some of the images.
I can't wait to try some of these. And if you have any question on Solaris, feel free to ask.

Finding references to the builds is not a problem, the whole development process was in the open, with the OpenSolaris
maling lists as the main communication hub.
You can find a lof of emails and blog posts about people testing and finding bugs in OpenSolaris builds, so you can definitely keep track of the evolution of OpenSolaris, and not just the build numbers.
Only the builds themselves are rare, as they only are available in little, unknown FTPs.
But back in the day they were freely available from Sun.

[DiskingRound]

Thanks, well appreciated. It's nice to see builds of Nevada surfacing that are not available on the surface web, but instead in random obscure FTPs. There are so many references to builds of Nevada, like bug reports and e-mails, that contain references to builds of Nevada that are no longer available on the interwebs. I also saw a reference to 147 on a French FTP. I cannot wait to fire up my VBox VM but my internet is slow and these ISO's are several GB's in size and are very hard to find online.

[Courage]

That 147 is probably 'Openindiana'. The last build of Opensolaris was 134. I actually had the Opensolaris distro of 134 a while back.

@bckf: You're welcome.

[bckf]

Last OpenSolaris build was 134 for sure (Oracle Solaris 11 Express).
Higher build numbers refer to Illumos builds, they're not related to Sun or Oracle anymore and didn't contribute to Solaris 11. Most of the developers who worked on them are ex-Sun employees who had taken part in Nevada and Indiana, though.
For example, you found the references in the names of some packages for StormOS, an OS with a Debian userland and an Illumos kernel.
A similar build number 151, is the current OpenIndiana.

[Courage]

UPDATE: I also found a 'Solaris 10 version b69' in the following FTP:

ftp://194.187.207.214/pub/unix/SUN/solar10

(It's not any of the released updates, they have 'sol-10-u**-ga' in their filenames.)

UPDATE:
I also just found that I have builds 75 (Opensolaris Developer Preview 1) and 79a (Opensolaris Developer Preview 2). Thankfully, they were only distributed in one CD.

Screenshot of 75:


Screeenshot of 79a:


UPDATE 3: That 'Solaris 10 version b69' actually is a Solaris 10 beta, dated October 2004.

[DiskingRound]

Thanks, Courage, for providing the links to rare versions of Solaris 11.
I currently have a whopping zero Solaris 11 beta CDs, so I would like to thank you for providing these rarities (i may have had some but disposed of many of it).
I found 64a and 70b myself while just searching around old FTP's, looking in every nook and crannie, and found these two.
Here are references and screenshots of 98: http://bderzhavets.wordpress.com/2008/1 ... d-98-dom0/
and a dead FTP with references to 54 and 52: ftp://freebsd.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/mirro ... aris/i386/

[DiskingRound]

Sorry about double post, but these are now on the FTP.
Courage, Thank you for these releases. You can always upload the 64a I found if you want to for me
bckf, you can always upload the 99 if you want to.
I already checked all the FTP's I could think of using FileWatcher, nothing new on them.
Anyway, Thanks for these contributions! Well appreciated

[bckf]

As soon as I have some free time to spare I'll give all of these a try and consider uploading my 99 ISO.
Thanks everyone for their contributions.