Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 08:09:15 -0500 (CDT) From: "Paul T. Root" <proot@horton.iaces.com> To: rcfa@cubiculum.com Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG, deraadt@openbsd.org, www@NetBSD.ORG Subject: Re: *BSD* - What's the difference, scope on compatibility, level of mutual code exchange, etc.... Message-ID: <199806251309.IAA16557@horton.iaces.com> In-Reply-To: <9806250641.AA08003@kannix.cubiculum.com> from "Ronald C.F. Antony" at "Jun 25, 98 02:40:52 am"
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In a previous message, Ronald C.F. Antony said: > 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. You hit the nail on the head here. > 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? They are all based on BSD4.4lite (the last release from Berkeley). So they aren't going to be too far off. > - 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? I believe that there is a bit of cooperation. If one group comes up with something extra espeically cool, it gets migrated back to the others. However, I believe that the splits were not all exactly friendly. Since all three have different priorities, they aren't likely to recombine any time soon. > - Where does Linux fit in? Is it more SysV oriented? Is it more BSDish? It doesn't fit. It is it's own beast. Linux is actually, just the kernel, made by Linus Torvus (sp). Then groups of anarchily organized people add libraries and utilities to it, until there is a full system. There are more Linux distributions than BSD ones. And they, apparently, all feel a little different. Much of what they use is the GNU stuff. > What about the Hurd? GNU should probably consentrate on being the glue for Linux, IMHO. After 10 years, Hurd version 0.1 is out. I don't know why Stallman can't get as many volenteers to do things, like all the BSD's and all the Linux's do. > - 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? Probably not. Without some major hacking. You'd be making your own BSD distribution. > - 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...) FreeBSD - PC centric OpenBSD - security NetBSD - cross platform. but you already knew that. FreeBSD is also heavily centralized. Which helps provide stability. I don't run the others. > - 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? There are a lot of GNU tools used. Most obviously, gcc is the compiler. However, most of the normal tools (ls, more, cat, etc.) are from the BSD distribution. Why used BSD tools instead of GNU tools? Well, BSD tools are more unencombered than GNU and GNU tools are clones of BSD (and SYSV) 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... don't know. > > 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 > -- "But don't push it. If you're working late some evening and you're getting tired and starting to make mistakes, don't push it. Go home. You can always come in on the weekend and finish it." --"team meeting" for Skratch To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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