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From: gpalmer@SPAM.webspan.net (Gary Palmer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: BSD vs Linux
Date: 19 May 1997 19:15:22 EDT
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In article <87lo5bmued.fsf@phaedrus.uchicago.edu>,
stephen farrell <stephen+usenet@farrell.org> writes:
> 2. I really hate the fact that freebsd seems to see linux as it's
> biggest competitor and measuring stick. leave linux alone; it's
> microsoft that is the real enemy.
Speaking personally, I don't think we really view either camp as
competitors. Linux has its strengths. NT has others. FreeBSD has yet
another set of strengths.
I also don't really see M$ as an enemy. Win NT (the solution M$ has
pitted against *nix) is a totally different beast to *nix. The fact
that you can't rip the gloss off and start tuning stuff for different
applications just stinks to my mind. Another problem with the NT
solution is (IMHO) that you run into the ``Oh, this is GUI, it's
really simple. So I won't wake <insert name of sysadmin here> up to do
this, I'll just do it myself''. Then the admin gets woken an hour
later when everything stops working.
I'm not saying having a GUI wouldn't be nice, but it has it's
disadvantages too (can you see Dilberts boss becoming the network
admin? :-) )
> 4. I like the technical forwardness of linux. I like the extensive
> module support (I have an almost completely generic kernel), I like
> the native threading support, the stable SMP, and I like the
> *momentum* of the linux community. There are tons of cool projects
> going on for linux, and it definitely feels to me that it is "pulling
> ahead" of FreeBSD, where it started off way behind technically.
I think FreeBSD's SMP is pretty stable too, and (from what I
understand) both Linux's implimentation and FreeBSD's rely on the `one
big lock' system at the minute (although my knowledge of Linux's
implimentation is 2nd hand and may be out of date)
I'll admit some areas of FreeBSD haven't gotten the attention they
deserve, but I think that is changing now (e.g. interrupt system is in
for a revamp, as is the underutilized lkm system, etc).
> 5. I like the /proc filesystem on linux. I'm a big fan of flashing
> lights and the /proc filesystem makes it trivial to write status
> utilities.
That is relatively easy to emulate using either a much-customized
portal fs or perhaps a linux_procfs. I do *NOT* want to touch /proc on
FreeBSD, since it is meant to be a window onto the process table,
filling it with junk is (IMHO) wrong, and I think Linux should have
found another window onto the kernel for the odds and ends that are
now in /proc
Gary