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From: michaelv@MindBender.HeadCandy.com (Michael L. VanLoon)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: File hierarchy (was Re: Linux or FreeBSD)
Date: 23 Sep 1995 05:37:28 GMT
Organization: HeadCandy Associates... Sweets for the lobes.
Lines: 60
Message-ID: <MICHAELV.95Sep22223728@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>
References: <409iah$inf@galaxy.ucr.edu> <43klfh$2sg@uriah.heep.sax.de>
<43ltqq$3k1@agate.berkeley.edu> <43pvh8$c6j@uriah.heep.sax.de>
<43to8n$2so@agate.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mindbender.seanet.com
In-reply-to: nickkral@parker.EECS.Berkeley.EDU's message of 22 Sep 1995 07:23:03 GMT
I'm speaking as a NetBSD user -- I have never used FreeBSD, so excuse
any misconceptions...
In article <43to8n$2so@agate.berkeley.edu> nickkral@parker.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Nick Kralevich) writes:
=====-----
Does FreeBSD have any file system standard as comprehensive as
the Linux File System Standard? (yes, I know about "man hier". The
key word here is "comprehensive"). For reference and comparison, the
text version of the Linux File System Standard is located at
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/fsstnd/fsstnd-1.2.txt
The 4.4BSD filesystem layout is actually configured and "enforced"
through a utility called "mtree". The layout "rules" are in
/etc/mtree. It not only gives filesystem layouts, but ownership and
permissions on key files and directories, as well.
=====-----
There currently is only one FreeBSD distribution. Therefore,
all of the FreeBSD distributions have exactly the same file system
layout (where all == one).
There is also NetBSD (and the defunct 386BSD and the commercial BSDI).
I would assume (since I don't know first-hand, but have a good reason
to expect this assumption to be correct) that the 4.4BSD-based BSDs
all follow either the original or a derivation of the 4.4BSD mtree
layout. 386BSD is 4.3BSD (Net Release 2, actually) based, but its
layout is still very similar.
1) Does the FreeBSD team support/want multiple distributions
of the FreeBSD operating system?
I believe both the NetBSD and FreeBSD teams have said publicly that
they would not stand in the way of such a thing. And, in fact, the
copyright that both systems are branded with pretty much precludes any
such action. Basically, if you want to take the systems and run with
them, the sources are there for the taking. You just have to make
sure you keep the copyright attributions intact (from what I
understand).
2) Assuming that there are multiple distributions of the
FreeBSD operating system, how will it be possible to maintain
consistancy between different versions? Different versions are
going to want to add different applications to different places.
The existing file system documentation ("man hier") is not
sufficient to deal with this.
How are the key system components not covered by the "man hier" and
mtree "rules"? Is anything that is not covered by them worth getting
concerned about? I think the consistency between NetBSD and FreeBSD
answers the question in your first sentence quite well.
--
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Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com
--< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >--
NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, HP300, Sun3, Sun4,
DEC PMAX (MIPS), DEC Alpha, PC532
NetBSD ports in progress: VAX, Atari 68k, others...
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