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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!jraynard.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: james@jraynard.demon.co.uk (James Raynard) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs FreeBSD - have an faq Date: 14 Jul 1996 11:41:53 -0000 Organization: A FreeBSD Box Lines: 60 Message-ID: <4same1$vj@jraynard.demon.co.uk> References: <4s9l9o$d9t@nyx10.cs.du.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost X-NNTP-Posting-Host: jraynard.demon.co.uk In article <4s9l9o$d9t@nyx10.cs.du.edu>, <nadeem@yorku.ca> wrote: > >i did not even start to read this newsgroup until i posted my question You should always read a newsgroup for at least two weeks before posting to it - see the news.announce.newusers FAQ. >if this is usch an FAQ, then perhaps an FAQ should be compiled about >the 2 systems, giving different opinions, and next time a newcomer >like me asks such a question, s/he can be redirected to the FAQ. It's not as simple as that. At one time, you could say "Linux has Y and FreeBSD doesn't, but FreeBSD's implementation of Z blows the socks off Linux's"; however, both systems have done a lot of catching up and you would now have to say "Linux has Y and FreeBSD has 99% of Y, but FreeBSD's implementation Z is faster than Linux's by a factor that is almost statistically insignificant", which isn't particularly useful. As both systems are literally changing daily, it may well be that next month Linux's Z performance overhauls FreeBSD's, or that FreeBSD completes its implementation of Y and adds an obscure feature that Linux had missed. Another point - which versions should you compare? At the moment, Linux is bringing out a set of "stable" kernels and FreeBSD is about to release version 2.1.5. Should you compare the latest "stable" Linux kernels against the latest "stable" FreeBSD (version 2.1.0)? That doesn't sound very fair, comparing six month old FreeBSD code against brand new Linux code. Should you compare the old "stable" Linux kernels with FreeBSD-2.1.0? That wouldn't be very informative, as both systems have changed a lot in the time since those releases. Should you wait a few days and compare against FreeBSD-2.1.5? FreeBSD'ers would complain about that not being a fair comparison, as a lot of new features have (deliberately) been left out of 2.1.5, which is meant to be a bug-fix release. Or should you compare the latest alpha, use-at-your-own-risk, may-not-even-compile development code? This involves a lot of work for whoever is going to "maintain" the FAQ entry; I find keeping up-to-date with the development version of FreeBSD fairly time-consuming, never mind trying to keep up with Linux as well (which would be needed for a fair comparison). In any case, this is rather a pointless comparison, as most users should not be running this kind of code; how valuable would you find comparisons between systems you will probably not get your hands on for another six months? I'd prefer to leave that kind of game to the corporate marketeers... >i apologise in advance if my question will cause any problems for >any readers of the group. definitely not what was intended. This newsgroup is a popular target for trolling Linux zealots, and patience has worn thin. Don't take it personally. -- James Raynard, Edinburgh, Scotland james@jraynard.demon.co.uk http://www.freebsd.org/~jraynard/