[ros-kernel] ReactOS 0.0.20

[Eric K. <ek...@rz...>]

Hi!

I think we should release ReactOS 0.0.20 soon. A lot fixes and improvements
happened since 0.0.19 was released. From a realistic point-of-view, I do not
think we will be able to make 0.0.20 a bootable and installable OS but
0.0.21 could finally reach this goal and become ReactOS 0.1. Therefore, the
following topics will have to be addressed:
    - floppy driver
    - registry
    - setup application
    - setup loader

Floppy driver:
AFAIK, the floppy driver doesn't work. I don't have any more information
about this.

Registry:
We need a writable registry to get the reactos setup rolling. If an
NT-compatible sollution is not available within a reasonable time, we should
think about using the flat text format as an intermediate sollution. Later a
setup/update application can convert the format. I'm in favor of the
intermediate sollution because FreeLoader already supports it.

Setup application:
I started to write a prototype. It looks like the NT setup but it doesn't
work yet. ;-)

Setup loader:
FreeLoader needs to be changed. I tried to add setup features to the
existing FreeLoader but it makes the code kind of ugly since it has to deal
with two entirely different jobs. I suggest to write a second front end
(setupldr.c) that does not include the ability to boot multiple OSs but
focuses on booting ReactOS for setup. IMHO, the current architecture of
FreeLoader supports multiple front ends perfectly.

Other important topics:
- Vfatfs needs to support large sector disks (1024/2048 byte sectors).
- Better support for removable disks.

PS.:
I want to move the midl compiler in 'lib/rpcrt4/midl' to 'tools/midl' and
resurrect rpcrt4. I also have stub-implementations of ntfs.sys, mup.sys,
eventlog service and rpcss service on my harddisk. Should I commit them and
flood the cvs tree or keep them to myself? Does anyone want to adopt them?

Eric