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Date:      Wed, 28 Feb 1996 16:54:15 -0800 (PST)
From:      Jake Hamby <jehamby@lightside.com>
To:        Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Cc:        jkh@time.cdrom.com, terry@lambert.org, hasty@rah.star-gate.com, root@dihelix.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Quake's out, where's that Linux ELF emulation?
Message-ID:  <Pine.AUX.3.91.960228163214.15042A-100000@covina.lightside.com>
In-Reply-To: <199602290003.RAA09335@phaeton.artisoft.com>

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On Wed, 28 Feb 1996, Terry Lambert wrote:

> One could argue that it's better for Browsers that run on FreeBSD
> to report "FreeBSD" rather than "Linux" to the web sites it runs against.

Granted.  I know mine is probably reporting "BSDI" (Netscape 2.0)...

> One could also argue that it's better to have "FreeBSD" than "Linux"
> on the outside of the box on store shelves.

Now how many Linux programs have you seen on store shelves?  :-)  Linux 
books maybe, Linux CD-ROMs possibly, but no third-party apps at Egghead, 
the last time I checked...  :-)

> Finally, how do you answer "if it's a Linux program I want to run, why
> shouldn't I just install Linux instead of FreeBSD?"?

Because of the superior TCP/IP stack?  Because of easier installation?  
Because it is more stable?  Because of the ports collection?  What 
about the improved security and administration features?  All of 
these advantages carry over, whether you are running a mixture of FreeBSD 
"ports" and Linux apps, or even mostly Linux programs!  Just like OS/2 
claimed to be "a better DOS than DOS", why can't we make the (justified 
once we get ELF) claim of "a better Linux than Linux?"

> Clearly they won't even consider a native port in that case.  A native
> port won't increase their "potential customer" count one iota if there
> is already a version that runs on FreeBSD.

Okay, granted.  But as I said, if it already runs fine on FreeBSD through 
binary emulation, then what do you gain by demanding a FreeBSD-native 
port?  Sure, it'd be nice, but I know I'd rather be able to run a Linux 
version than have no version at all!

---Jake



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