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Date:      Mon, 05 Jul 1999 22:16:14 +0200
From:      Marcel Moolenaar <marcel@scc.nl>
To:        Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>
Cc:        Marcel Moolenaar <marcel@FreeBSD.org>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org, sos@freebsd.dk, imp@harmony.village.org
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/sys/i386/linux linux_misc.c
Message-ID:  <3781128E.D9FF98DA@scc.nl>
References:  <19990705194303.B32C664@overcee.netplex.com.au>

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Peter Wemm wrote:
> 
> Marcel Moolenaar wrote:
> > marcel      1999/07/05 12:18:04 PDT
> >
> >   Modified files:
> >     sys/i386/linux       linux_misc.c
> >   Log:
> >   Let newuname return "Linux" as the OS name and not "FreeBSD". Also, return
>     a
> >   more sensible (for Linux applications) release number. Hardcoding a release
> >   number has its drawbacks, but it will do for now.
> 
> No no! :-)
> 
> Actually, this was deliberately left as FreeBSD because of things like
> netscape etc which record the name in the request.
> 
> You'd be better off tweaking uname(1) for install scripts etc that are
> version sensitive.

This is what I was afraid of :-(

Food for thought:

1) 1 simple modification to newuname saves countless hours/days/weeks of
hacking programs, install scripts and the like. And I don't even mention
all those other programs and scripts that get broken by the hack because of
all those unpredictable dependencies and quirks.

2) There was not and never will be a Linux kernel that returns "FreeBSD" as
the OS name.

3) What's wrong with the FreeBSD native Netscape that some users are using
a Linux Netscape even though they will do everything to prevent a web
server to "think" that the client is a Linux machine.

4) Emulation: Effort or ambition to equal or excel another in any act or
quality.

5) What good is an emulator if it is written to influence statistics
instead of supporting the largest number of programs.

If you all feel the same way after reading this, then you've really and
completely lost me.

(ain't I a stinker :-)

-- 
Marcel Moolenaar                                  mailto:marcel@scc.nl
SCC Internetworking & Databases                     http://www.scc.nl/
Amsterdam, The Netherlands                         tel: +31 20 4200655


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