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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.questions:13176 comp.os.386bsd.misc:3508 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!violet.berkeley.edu!jkh From: jkh@violet.berkeley.edu (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs NetBSD Date: 15 Sep 1994 06:23:54 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 50 Message-ID: <358p9q$gec@agate.berkeley.edu> References: <358o3g$p95@umd5.umd.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.berkeley.edu In article <358o3g$p95@umd5.umd.edu>, Alok K. Dhir <adhir@bigdipper.umd.edu> wrote: >I understand that NetBSD 1.0 will soon be released. I am curious as to >the advantages of one over the other. Do they match one another feature >for feature? What is NetBSD based on, BSD 4.3 or 4.4/lite? Not having seen NetBSD 1.0, I can't obviously say for sure, but it's my impression that NetBSD 1.0 will have a lot of nice features which FreeBSD 1.1.5.1 lacks, a natural consequence of being based on 4.4 Lite (and having a lot of work put into it), whereas FreeBSD 1.1.5.1 is Net/2 based and represents our level of achievement as of almost 3 months back. Comparing NetBSD 1.0 and FreeBSD 1.1.5.1 is therefore something of an apples-and-oranges comparison, and I'd be much happer to see NetBSD 1.0 and FreeBSD 2.0 run head-to-head in any comparisons people make. We'll all just have to wait until the respective camps release their newest babies. Note that I'm really hoping that this won't lead to a spate of "NetBSD 1.0 is going to be WAAY better than FreeBSD 2.0 because xxxxx..." I don't think anybody, even those at the core of FreeBSD and NetBSD, are really in a position to say what the "competing" product is going to look like until it's released. Heck, *I* have no idea what FreeBSD 2.0 is going to look like when it's released - that's a long ways down the road from my perspective! :-) >I have found compiling things for FreeBSD is sometimes a bit of a chore >(as compared to Linux and NeXTStep, which I also run), especially >since there is usually not a default config for it (for example, with >gcc, pine, and misc others). Is netbsd in the same boat? I'm not sure what this means, but I know that both camps have made strides in the quality of their "unbundled" applications. I've certainly put a lot of work into this over the last 8 weeks myself! Again, we'll just have to see. >FreeBSD 2.0 is just around the corner as well (perhaps not as close as >NetBSD), but I need things up and running in the next month or so. Are >there any compelling reasons to wait to FreeBSD 2.0 instead of using NetBSD >1.0 when its released? It all depends on what your needs are and what they each look like when they're released, like I said. NetBSD 1.0 is supposed to be just around the corner, and I know that we have an early-access snapshot planned in the next few weeks ourselves. Why not leave the "is NetBSD 1.0 better than FreeBSD 2.0" discussions until then? I'm sure there will be PLENTY of discussion! :-) Jordan