Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 03:17:30 -0500 (EST) From: "Brandon D. Valentine" <bandix@looksharp.net> To: Anthony Atkielski <anthony@freebie.atkielski.com> Cc: Jamie Oulman <jamie@techsquare.com>, Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be>, <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Just lost one to Linux. Compaq server support. Message-ID: <20011220030636.C21508-100000@turtle.looksharp.net> In-Reply-To: <014a01c18927$f2270d60$0a00000a@atkielski.com>
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On Thu, 20 Dec 2001, Anthony Atkielski wrote: >The only way to escape the proprietary trap is to >install something that isn't sold commercially by anyone, such as FreeBSD. I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. It's difficult these days for someone in this industry not to come into contact with linux systems on a regular basis. I cringe at the way RH and its derivatives do things. I would add however that, when I must deal with linux and I have a choice I prefer using Debian. I think they've produced a more reliable, more sane distribution for the same reasons you've mentioned above as making FreeBSD better than RedHat. They simply have no commercial interests to worry about. Some people's largest complaint about Debian is that the stable release is so far behind the linux mainstream but others would argue that this is what makes it so good. The way they've designed their package management it's perfectly possible to run a stable series system and upgrade just the certain packages which are vulnerable or in which you need additional functionality. It's also possible to backdown more experimental packages in the frozen and testing releases to regain stability. The same granularity is possible with FreeBSD but you have to know a bit about CVS and how to generate diffs against remote versions. Hopefully libh will reach the point where the base system is under package management and the same granularity will be easy with FreeBSD. Believe me, I'm no Debian evangelist and I quite frankly think a lot of their decisions with regard to the importance of the almighty RMS & his beloved GPL are misguided at best, but that's been covered elsewhere in -chat. ;-) I do, however, think they're an excellent example of how non-commercial software can be inherently better. Brandon D. Valentine -- "Iam mens praetrepidans avet vagari." - G. Valerius Catullus, Carmina, XLVI To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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