Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 00:52:54 -0600 From: Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Ilya Shpan'kov <ilyas@opera.com> Subject: Re: Opera in your repos Message-ID: <20090807065254.GD4290@kokopelli.hydra> In-Reply-To: <20090806014605.GA98688@orange.esperance-linux.co.uk> References: <op.ux62p4qx799kd0@linux.site> <200908050743.05363.mel.flynn%2Bfbsd.questions@mailing.thruhere.net> <20090806014605.GA98688@orange.esperance-linux.co.uk>
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--wLAMOaPNJ0fu1fTG Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 02:46:05AM +0100, Frank Shute wrote: >=20 > BSD=3DBerkeley Software Distribution AKA distro of Unix That's not the same as saying that FreeBSD is a "distribution". FreeBSD is not called "a BSD of Unix", after all. It's a "BSD Unix system" or "BSD Unix OS", or simply a "BSD Unix". The difference is that "BSD" refers to the point of origin in this case, and the ancestral codebase, and the license. A "Linux distribution" is Linux, bundled up with other software, to produce a OS package for distribution. A "BSD Unix" system, on the other hand, is a Unix system of the BSD tradition. The term BSD originally referred to the fact that a set of software was distributed together under the auspices of UC Berkeley. Since FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD are not distributed by UC Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group any longer, the term "BSD" now just refers a family relation of sorts, and is a term of tradition rather than a literal statement about the nature of the software's character in some way. One might say it's a "software distribution package", of course, but in colloquial usage, the abbreviated "distro" or "distribution" without any more specific reference to the context of the term has a meaning particular to the Linux-based operating system distribution model, where there's a core component common across many operating system variants and those variations are known as "distributions" of the common core. When the term "distribution" is used without more specific context, it is generally understood to mean "a particular variant software bundle among many such options built around a common core component that, altogether, makes a unique operating system". FreeBSD, however, is not such a thing at all. It is a complete operating system developed as a whole. =2E . . so while there may be *some* sense of truth in your explanation for why it's "a distribution", I don't think that's really a meaningful definition for purposes of enabling clear communication about the nature of the FreeBSD OS and its development project, and I sympathize with those who say "It's an operating system, not a distro." DesktopBSD and PC-BSD, on the other hand . . . I've been far too pedantic for one email on such an inconsequential subject. I'll stop now. --=20 Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ] Quoth H. L. Mencken: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." --wLAMOaPNJ0fu1fTG Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.10 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkp7z0YACgkQ9mn/Pj01uKWFhACeN9E9mRhYbtqcpGyD3mZvAHEl zsEAnR8Qill1B/QlTxirtWAks7bi67FN =q4RV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --wLAMOaPNJ0fu1fTG--
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