From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 1 13:02:08 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 73EB916A4CE for ; Mon, 1 Dec 2003 13:02:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from gs166.sp.cs.cmu.edu (GS166.SP.CS.CMU.EDU [128.2.205.169]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 677D543FFB for ; Mon, 1 Dec 2003 13:02:01 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dpelleg@gs166.sp.cs.cmu.edu) Sender: dpelleg@gs166.sp.cs.cmu.edu To: Bill Moran References: <20031126232537.24176.qmail@web13704.mail.yahoo.com> <20031126234313.GZ90881@submonkey.net> <3FC53E21.9020709@potentialtech.com> From: Dan Pelleg Date: 01 Dec 2003 16:01:29 -0500 In-Reply-To: <3FC53E21.9020709@potentialtech.com> Message-ID: Lines: 42 User-Agent: Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) XEmacs/21.1 (Cuyahoga Valley) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD for Linux users X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 21:02:08 -0000 Bill Moran writes: > Ceri Davies wrote: > > On Wed, Nov 26, 2003 at 03:25:37PM -0800, bri an wrote: > > > > >>I am a Work-study at a University. I have allot of > >>staff using Redhat. I have been working on helping > >>people move to Freebsd. I have been using it for a two > >>months. I would love to help in anyway. I am not very > >>versed in Freebsd, But I know how to RTFM. I can be a > >>great tester to see what the document needs. > > I think it needs writing. ;-) > > > Seriously, on the doc team we are all long term FreeBSD users, and lack > > > the newcomer perspective to write this document. A list of pointers to > > things that people migrating find difficult would be useful to start. > [snip] > 3) Hard-core admins are confused by the fact that so much config info is in > /etc/rc.conf. They're even more confused by the fact that the rest of > the config is in /usr/local/etc The location of the config directory isn't the only thing that looks strange to them. The linux executables, as well, traditionally go in /bin (or /sbin). It seems that someone migrating from linux would find it more familiar to have ports' PREFIX set to / (instead of /usr/local). The disadvantages are: 1. risk of filling the / slice (which is typically very small on FreeBSD and very big on most linux distros). 2. a port file overrunning a same-named file in the base system. Some people find it easier to keep these two things in mind than to get used to the idea of /usr/local. Another thing that's a "freebsd annoyance" is the lack of init scripts for base system services (this only holds in 4.X). -- Dan Pelleg