From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Nov 6 15:21:52 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id PAA20148 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Fri, 6 Nov 1998 15:21:52 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA20137 for ; Fri, 6 Nov 1998 15:21:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from grog@freebie.lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) with ESMTP id JAA01378; Sat, 7 Nov 1998 09:51:10 +1030 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) id JAA00706; Sat, 7 Nov 1998 09:51:07 +1030 (CST) Message-ID: <19981107095107.C499@freebie.lemis.com> Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 09:51:07 +1030 From: Greg Lehey To: Johann Visagie , Martin Leufray III , freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs. Linux References: <4.1.19981102162944.00cc6ec0@mail.netconstruct.com> <19981106165913.B13675@cityip.co.za> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.91.1i In-Reply-To: <19981106165913.B13675@cityip.co.za>; from Johann Visagie on Fri, Nov 06, 1998 at 04:59:13PM +0200 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Friday, 6 November 1998 at 16:59:13 +0200, Johann Visagie wrote: > On Mon, 02 Nov 1998 at 16:31 SAST, Martin Leufray III wrote: >> >> There is a raging debate in our offices about FreeBSD vs. Linux. We are an >> international consulting firm and our internal decisions affect a lot of data >> centers. >> >> Is there a definitive comparison anywhere? > > Every "expert" will have his own opinion. > > As for mine: If you want to run stable, reliable, maintainable servers, go > for FreeBSD. (There are many other applications where I would recommend > Linux, but that's besides the point.) > > My own summary of the entire debate: > > * Linux is a PC OS that happens to be Unix-like. > * FreeBSD is Berkeley Unix that happens to run on a PC. > > The more I learn, the more applicable it seems (though I know some disagree > with me). Yes, I'm one of them. To the casual observer, there is *no difference* between Linux and FreeBSD. If you look closer, the differences you'll see are mainly historical. If you look in the source code, you'll see the real differences: FreeBSD is more mature code, and it expends more effort making the system run well in an environment with a large number of processes. I think it unlikely, for example, that you could create a system like wcarchive (ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/archive-info/wcarchive.txt) using Linux. What does this mean for the average desktop user? Nothing. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message