Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!in1.uu.net!nctuccca.edu.tw!news.cc.nctu.edu.tw!news.sinica!taob
From: taob@gate.sinica.edu.tw (Brian Tao)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Going from Linux to FreeBSD
Date: 29 Aug 1995 09:21:20 GMT
Organization: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica
Lines: 44
Message-ID: <41um6g$1tb@gate.sinica.edu.tw>
References: <DE1BG0.9Eu@iquest.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: @140.109.40.248
In article <DE1BG0.9Eu@iquest.net>, David Anderson <partek@indecent.com> wrote:
>
>1- Will I be able to use any of my Linux executables or do I have to port
> and recompile everything that I've customized?
There is a Linux binary compatibility lkm available, but I've only
ever used it to play linuxdoom. ;-) It runs *very* well and very
fast with that game, but I've not tried any other Linux apps. FreeBSD
has an extensive ports and packages collection that you should draw on
to rebuild your software base. What sort of "customizations" were you
talking about? Source code patches?
>2- I am acting as a small internet provider for about 45 people. Does
> FreeBSD support the EXT2 filesystem or do I need to tar up their home
> directories? (They're on a seperate partition)
No, although there is talk of porting ext2fs to FreeBSD and
Berkeley ffs to Linux. For now though, you'll have to tar up
everyone's directories and then untar them onto an ffs partition. Or
better yet (if you have the machines to do this), NFS mount the Linux
filesystem on your new FreeBSD box and just copy them over that way.
Might I also add that FreeBSD is an excellent choice for an ISP. :)
>3- Does FreeBSD have any ways of doing "distaster recovery"? Like I
> commonly, while playing with the kernel or a critical bootup file,
> leave Linux unbootable, and have to use my install disks to fix things.
Never did FreeBSD ever leave me in a state where I had to boot
from a floppy, so your point is moot. ;-) When installing kernels,
the Makefile will by default keep a copy of your original kernel
around, in case the new one doesn't work. Then you just select a
kernel at the boot prompt. You should also keep a copy of the install
floppy in case you do something silly like "rm -rf /etc" and need to
go to backups.
>Thanks for the help. E-Mail replies are preferred since I rarely read
>newsgroups.
Try the FreeBSD mailing lists instead then. :) See
http://www.freebsd.org/ and look under the "How to..." section for
details on subscribing.
--
Brian ("Though this be madness, yet there is method in't") Tao
taob@gate.sinica.edu.tw <-- work ........ play --> taob@io.org