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{{Short description|American software engineer (born 1966)}}
{{other people|Matt Dillon}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Matthew Dillon
|image       = File:Matthew Dillon (DragonFly BSD leader) on bicycle with bicycle helmet--2008-08.jpeg
|imagesize   = 
|caption     = Matthew Dillon on bicycle, August 2008
|birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1966|07|01|df=y}}<ref name=calendar.freebsd/>
|birth_place = [[San Francisco]]<ref name=calendar.freebsd/>
<!--|residence   = [[Berkeley, California]]-->
|education   = 
|alma_mater  = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
|occupation  = [[Software engineer]]
|known_for   = [[Amiga]] DICE,<ref name=dice-mia/><ref name=informit-2007/> DME;<ref name=theregister-dme/> [[FreeBSD]], [[DragonFly BSD]], [[HAMMER (file system)|HAMMER]]
|website     = {{URL|http://apollo.backplane.com/}}
}}

'''Matthew Dillon''' (born 1966) is an American [[software engineer]] known for [[Amiga]] software,<ref name=informit-2007/> contributions to [[FreeBSD]] and for starting and leading the [[DragonFly BSD]] project since 2003.<ref name=informit-2007/><ref name=kerneltrap-2002/><ref name=kerneltrap-2007/><ref name=team/>

==Biography==
Dillon studied [[electronic engineering]] and [[computer science]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he first became involved with [[BSD]] in 1985. He also became known for his [[Amiga]] programming,<ref name=informit-2007/> his C compiler DICE<ref name=dice-mia/> and his work on the [[Linux kernel]].{{r|login04}} He founded and worked at [[Verio|Best Internet]] from 1994 until 1997, contributing to [[FreeBSD]] in that time.{{r|sage-1998}} His "Diablo" internet news transit program was very popular with many ISPs.

In 1997, Dillon gained [[Commit (data management)|commit]] access to the FreeBSD code and heavily contributed to the [[virtual memory]] subsystem,<ref name=onlamp-2004/> amongst other contributions.

Concerned with problems he saw in the direction FreeBSD 5.x was headed in regards to [[Concurrency (computer science)|concurrency]],<ref name=onlamp-2004/> and coupled with the fact that Dillon's access to the FreeBSD source code repository was revoked due to a falling-out with other FreeBSD developers, he started the [[DragonFly BSD]] project in 2003, implementing the [[Symmetric multiprocessing|SMP]] model using [[Light Weight Kernel Threads|light-weight kernel threads]].{{r|informit-2007|go}} The DragonFly project also led to the development of a new [[userspace]] kernel [[OS-level virtualisation|virtualisation]] technique in 2006, called [[Virtual Kernel]],{{r|informit-2007|lwn-2010}} originally to ease the development and testing of subsequent kernel-level features;{{r|Reed2007}} a new [[file system]], called [[HAMMER (file system)|HAMMER]], which he created using [[B-tree]]s; HAMMER was declared production-ready with DragonFly 2.2 in 2009;<ref name=lwn-2010/> and, subsequently, [[HAMMER2]], declared stable in 2018 with DragonFly 5.2.

Most recently, Dillon has gotten a number of headlines around [[CPU]] [[errata]].  In 2007, this was after [[Theo de Raadt]] of [[OpenBSD]] raised the alarm around the seriousness of some of the errata for [[Intel Core 2]] family of CPUs.<ref name=lor-2007/>  Dillon has independently evaluated Intel's errata, and did an overview of [[Intel Core]] errata as well, suggesting that several of them were so serious as to warrant avoiding any processor where the issues remain unfixed.<ref name=lor-2007/>  Dillon has since been a fan of [[AMD]] processors, and, subsequently in 2012, he has discovered a brand-new deficiency in some [[AMD]] processors for which no existing erratum existed at the time.<ref name=theregister-amd-2012/>  Dillon continued his work around CPU issues as late as 2018, presenting solutions to tackle the latest security vulnerabilities like [[Meltdown (security vulnerability)|Meltdown]], some of which have been subsequently adopted by [[OpenBSD]] as well.<ref name=theregister-openbsd-meltdown-2018/>

Dillon was a frequent guest on bsdtalk during the runtime of the show,<ref name=bsdtalk/> and was interviewed several times for [[KernelTrap]].<ref name=kerneltrap-2002/><ref name=kerneltrap-2007/>

== References ==
{{reflist
|refs=
<!-- we sorted the reflist below by `date`, but keep similar web-sites/sources together -->

<ref name=dice-mia>{{cite newsgroup
|url= https://groups.google.com/d/topic/comp.sys.amiga.programmer/xtNd06LMiMU
|title= Matt Dillon: Where has he gone? 
|newsgroup = comp.sys.amiga.programmer
|message-id = 1992Nov5.075732.15766@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
|date=1992-11-05 |access-date=2019-03-02
}}</ref>

<ref name=sage-1998>{{cite mailing list
|author= Greg Kulosa |date= 1998-09-15
|url= https://www.usenix.org/legacyurl/baylisa-meeting-unix-intel-implementing-reliable-production-systems
|title= BayLISA meeting: Unix on Intel: Implementing Reliable Production Systems
|mailing-list= [[LISA (organization)|sage]]-members@ |publisher= [[USENIX]] |access-date= 2019-04-12
|quote= "The panelists are: [[BSD/OS]], [[Paul Vixie]] [Internet Software Consortium founder]; [[FreeBSD]], Matt Dillon [Systems Architect at Best Internet]; …"
}}</ref>

<ref name=login04>{{citation
|author= Matus Telgarsky |date= 2004
|url= https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/usenix04/usenix04reports.pdf
|title= Conference Reports, USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX '04), UseBSD SIG, Panel: The State of the BSD Projects
|journal= [[;login:]] |publisher= [[USENIX]] |publication-date= October 2004 |volume= 29 |issue= 5 |pages= 54–55 |issn= 1044-6397
|quote= "Already a veteran hacker (contributor to Linux and FreeBSD, among many other projects), …" 
}}</ref>

<ref name=kerneltrap-2002>{{cite web
|url= http://kerneltrap.org/node/8
|title= Interview: Matthew Dillon
|author = Jeremy Andrews
|website = [[KernelTrap]]
|date=2002-01-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120207010924/http://kerneltrap.org/node/8
|access-date=2019-03-03
|archive-date= 2012-02-07
}}</ref>

<ref name=kerneltrap-2007>{{cite web
|url= http://kerneltrap.org/node/14116
|title= Interview: Matthew Dillon
|author = Jeremy Andrews
|website = [[KernelTrap]]
|date=2007-08-06 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120207011005/http://kerneltrap.org/node/14116
|access-date=2019-03-03
|archive-date= 2012-02-07
}}</ref>

<ref name=onlamp-2004>{{cite web
|url= http://onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/07/08/dragonfly_bsd_interview.html
|title= Behind DragonFly BSD
|author= Federico Biancuzzi
|publisher= [[O'Reilly Media]] 
|date= 2004-07-08 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110513210535/http://onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/07/08/dragonfly_bsd_interview.html
|access-date=2019-03-02
|archive-date= 2011-05-13
}}</ref>

<ref name=Reed2007>{{cite web
|editor= Jeremy C. Reed |date= 2007-02-10
|url= http://www.bsdnewsletter.com/2007/02/Features176.html
|title= Answers from Matt Dillon about DragonFly's virtual kernel
|website= BSD Newsletter .com |publisher= Reed Media .net
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070224140607/http://www.bsdnewsletter.com/2007/02/Features176.html
|archive-date= 2007-02-24 |url-status=live
}}</ref>

<ref name=informit-2007>{{cite web
|url= http://www.informit.com/articles/printerfriendly/766375
|title= DragonFly BSD: UNIX for Clusters?
|author= David Chisnall
|publisher= [[Prentice Hall Professional]]
|website= [[InformIT (publisher)|InformIT]]
|date=2007-06-15 |access-date=2019-03-06
}}</ref>

<ref name=go>{{cite book
|author= David Chisnall
|section= Why Go?
|title= The Go Programming Language Phrasebook
|year= 2012
|url= https://archive.org/details/goprogramminglan00chis_483
|url-access= limited
|edition= 1st
|publisher= [[Addison-Wesley Professional]]
|publication-date= 2012 <!-- 2012-04-30/05-10 -->
|page= [https://archive.org/details/goprogramminglan00chis_483/page/n15 5]
|isbn= 978-0-321-81714-3
|quote= "In creating DragonFly BSD, Matt Dillon observed that there was no point in creating an N:M threading model—where N userspace threads are multiplexed on top of M kernel threads—because C code that uses more than a handful of threads is very rare."
}}</ref>

<ref name=lor-2007>{{cite web
|url= https://www.linux.org.ru/news/security/2002875
|title= Matthew Dillon об ошибках Intel Core и Core 2 
|language= ru
|publisher= Linux.org.ru
|author= Constantine A. Murenin
|date=2007-07-03 |access-date=2019-03-02
}}</ref>

<ref name=lwn-2010>{{cite web
|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/384200/
|title=DragonFly BSD 2.6: towards a free clustering operating system
|author= Koen Vervloesem
|website=[[LWN.net]]
|date=2010-04-21 |access-date=2019-03-07
}}</ref>

<ref name=theregister-amd-2012>{{cite web
|url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/07/amd_opteron_bug_dragonfly/
|title= DragonFly BSD developer stung by Opteron bug
|publisher= [[The Register]]
|date=2012-03-07 |access-date=2019-03-02
}}</ref>

<ref name=bsdtalk>{{cite web
|url= https://bsdtalk.blogspot.com/search?q=dillon
|title= bsdtalk: DragonFlyBSD with Matthew Dillon
|publisher= bsdtalk 
|date=2014-11-19 |access-date=2019-03-02
}}</ref>

<ref name=theregister-dme>{{cite web
|url= https://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/all/2015/07/24/amiga_turns_30/
|title= Happy birthday, Amiga: The 'other' home computer turns 30
|publisher= [[The Register]]
|date=2015-07-24 |access-date=2019-03-02
|quote = I loved Matt Dillon's editor DME, did anyone else come across that ?
}}</ref>

<ref name=theregister-openbsd-meltdown-2018>{{cite web
|url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/23/openbsd_emits_meltdown_patch/
|title= OpenBSD releases Meltdown patch
|publisher= [[The Register]]
|date=2018-02-23 |access-date=2019-03-02
|quote = Part of the OpenBSD solution used the approach employed by Matthew Dillon in his DragonFly BSD – the per-CPU page layout aspect.
}}</ref>

<ref name=team>{{cite web
|url= http://www.dragonflybsd.org/team/
|title= team
|publisher= [[DragonFly BSD]]
|date= 2018-05-24
|access-date= 2019-03-02
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181118104452/http://www.dragonflybsd.org/team/
|archive-date= 2018-11-18
|url-status= dead
}}</ref>

<ref name=calendar.freebsd>{{cite web
|url= http://bxr.su/FreeBSD/usr.bin/calendar/calendars/calendar.freebsd
|title= usr.bin/calendar/calendars/calendar.freebsd
|publisher = [[FreeBSD]] | website = Super User's BSD Cross Reference
|date=2019-02-09 |access-date=2019-03-02
}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
* [http://apollo.backplane.com/ Matt Dillon home page]
* [http://www.slashnet.org/forums/DragonflyBSD-20031009.html Matt Dillon IRC interview] from [http://www.slashnet.org/ SlashNet]
* [http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6338 OSNews interview] (March 13, 2004)

{{DragonFly |state=expanded}}
{{FreeBSD}}
{{Berkeley Software Distribution}}
{{AmigaOS}}
{{Amiga people}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Matthew}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Engineers from San Francisco]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:American computer programmers]]
[[Category:Amiga people]]
[[Category:BSD people]]
[[Category:DragonFly BSD]]
[[Category:FreeBSD people]]
[[Category:Free software programmers]]
[[Category:Kernel programmers]]