Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 11:38:56 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Jason Nordwick <nordwick@scam.xcf.berkeley.edu>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: "Linux is UNIX, and FreeBSD is not?" Message-ID: <19980606113856.S768@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <35783E5A.EAF3AF9F@scam.xcf.berkeley.edu>; from Jason Nordwick on Fri, Jun 05, 1998 at 11:52:10AM -0700 References: <199806041128.NAA20861@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de> <35783E5A.EAF3AF9F@scam.xcf.berkeley.edu>
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On Fri, 5 June 1998 at 11:52:10 -0700, Jason Nordwick wrote: > Oliver Fromme wrote: >> >> http://www.UNIX-systems.org/what_is_unix/flavors_of_unix.html >> > > Take from this link: > > What about BSDI? > > BSDI is an independent company that markets products derived from > the Berkeley Systems Distribution (BSD), developed at the University > of California at Berkeley in the 60's and 70's. It is the operating > system of choice for many Internet service providers. It is, as with > Linux, not a UNIX system, though in this case there is a common code > heritage if one looks far enough back in history. > > Just brushing up on my history. I've taken a look at these web pages, and I think you've chosen the wrong place. In particular http://www.UNIX-systems.org/images/chronology_big.gif is *very* inaccurate. You'll notice that 4.4BSD doesn't even figure. The green bar at the bottom ("Single UNIX Specification") gives it the lie: they're rewriting history to suit their commercial objectives. A much better overview is on page 5 and 6 of "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD [UNIX] System". This book shows FreeBSD and BSDI as being very much part of the UNIX family tree. There's also an overview (from "The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX System") at http://minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au/PUPS/Images/unixtimeline.gif, and somewhere somebody else has tried a more modern version. To your questions: > Is this true? It's not completely false. > Do you really have to look "far" back to see where the code comes > from? That depends on what you call "far". The last version of BSD that was allowed to be called UNIX was probably 4.3BSD/Reno, about 1990. The next version, Net/2, was free and thus couldn't be called UNIX. BSD/386, now called BSD/OS, was created in 1991. FreeBSD was created (out of 386BSD) in 1993. > What was considered "UNIX"? Depends on the time. Mainly, the subject of a UNIX license. > All the AT&T code? How about SVR4, is this the mailine of UNIX > proper? I suppose it's the favourite son, anyway. > If so, then how do they say that BSD is also not in the mailine of > UNIX? I don't understand the question. BSD is the older, more generous son who gave his all to System V and was then disowned. Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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