Date: Thu, 25 Jun 98 02:40:52 -0400 From: "Ronald C.F. Antony" <rcfa@cubiculum.com> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG, deraadt@openbsd.org, www@NetBSD.ORG Subject: *BSD* - What's the difference, scope on compatibility, level of mutual code exchange, etc.... Message-ID: <9806250641.AA08003@kannix.cubiculum.com>
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Hi all, to start it all off: I do NOT want to start some religious debate about which of the various free BSD systems or Linux is better, I just would like to know what are the differences. I was perusing the various web sites, and couldn't find the proper answers... Of course, everyone says they want a free OS, scalable, correctly implemented, etc. Unfortunately, there is little actual information. From the various web sites, I gather, that FreeBSD is optimized for PC systems, while adding support for other platforms. NetBSD seems to aim at pretty much every system under the sun (including my good old NeXT hardware...) and OpenBSD seems to be aiming at maximum security. Of course, I want it all :-) A BSD system that runs on my NeXT and PCs, with maximum security, and as fast as possible. But seriously: - how compatible are the sources across the various versions? - are there active efforts to keep the various versions somewhat in sync and compatible, or will we eventually look at the old UNIX fragmentation that already was the pleague in the SysV vs. BSD days? - Where does Linux fit in? Is it more SysV oriented? Is it more BSDish? What about the Hurd? - Are the device drivers compatible across the different versions, e.g. could I use the NetBSD boot block and device drivers to get NeXT hardware support, but use it with OpenBSD to get the crypto and security functionality that a US based effort can't offer? - What, if any, are the philosophical differences? (I will decide myself what I like better :-) but what are they? I mean there have to be some, or else some people wouldn't get so religious about it...) - Are all these systems using the GNU tools, or are some using them, and others have their own versions of the standard UNIX tools? Given the general stability (e.g. when tested against random data streams) of GNU tools, why should I want to use these other tools? - What plans, if any, are there to move any of these projects towards a (MACH-based ?) microkernel with user-level servers (sort of like what Hurd is planning and mkLinux is doing to some degree... This list of questions could go on and on. Obviously all of these efforts deserve our thanks and support, but it would be helpful if there were actual facts on which to base the decision of the OS of choice... (Well, with my NeXT hardware, there is currently not much of a choice, but that's another issue...) Greetings, and thanks a lot for taking the effort of answering these questions. Adding them to the various FAQs would help... Ronald ============================================================================== "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." G.B. Shaw | rcfa@cubiculum.com | NeXT-mail welcome To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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