From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 6 20:53:52 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EEDA11065693 for ; Mon, 6 Oct 2008 20:53:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from afriedman@drsns.com) Received: from wf-out-1314.google.com (wf-out-1314.google.com [209.85.200.172]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5BEEB8FC2B for ; Mon, 6 Oct 2008 20:53:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from afriedman@drsns.com) Received: by wf-out-1314.google.com with SMTP id 24so2809503wfg.7 for ; Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:53:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.115.110.6 with SMTP id n6mr6285071wam.34.1223326427463; Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:53:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ?10.0.0.111? ([63.162.101.223]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 9sm8154306yxs.5.2008.10.06.13.53.45 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:53:46 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: From: "Dr. Aharon Friedman" To: Robert Watson In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2008 16:53:43 -0400 References: <363BDDAF-76C7-49AE-A8F5-EE1995C4CCBF@drsns.com> <6228eb140810060825g784d0d1fle6738d3186cc4451@mail.gmail.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.929.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, David Sanders Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD a suitable choice for a MacBook? --- WHY? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:53:53 -0000 Thanks Robert, I just did not want to go into a lot of details. My bottom line was that unless you want to run a very specific port that has not been ported to Mac OSX (these are quite rare), I do not see the reason to install FreeBSD on a Mac Book. As for X11 it is maintained as a separate port, and one can go to: http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/ to download the latest version which is much less buggy. The only caveat is that when Apple updates the operating system it reverts to whatever they have on the official release and one has to reinstall the latest version. Aharon Friedman On Oct 6, 2008, at 1:36 PM, Robert Watson wrote: > > On Mon, 6 Oct 2008, Dr. Aharon Friedman wrote: > >> Sorry, I meant BSD. >> >> Here is the link: >> >> http://www.freebsd.org/news/press-rel-3.html >> >> Aharon Friedman > > I don't see the origina message you replied to on the list, so am > replying to it via your post... > >>> I'm just a lurker, but even I know that only some of the userland >>> apps in OS X are BSD-based. The kernel is mach microkernel based >>> and not even slightly similar. > > This claim regarding the kernel is highly inaccurate. There are > significant quantities of FreeBSD, Mach, and Apple-originated code > in the Mac OS X kernel, both because Apple pulled in a lot of > FreeBSD code early on, but also because code moves between the two > kernels fairly easily and fairly frequently, and in both directions. > You'll find a FreeBSD-derived VFS, network stack, and countless > other kernel parts in Mac OS X from their first open source drop > forward. More recently, though, you'll find that the Audit > implementation present in FreeBSD 6.x and later is based on the Mac > OS X kernel audit code, and the TrustedBSD MAC Framework that > appeared in Mac OS X Leopard is straight from FreeBSD. > > It's certainly true that there's a lot of non-FreeBSD code -- XNU > uses the Mach scheduler and Mach IPC, and a quite different driver > framework, for example. There's also some convergent evolution: > FreeBSD contains a Mach-derived VM that also comes from the original > Mach project. > > Finally, just to be clear: XNU is not a micro-kernel, even though it > contains significant amounts of Mach code. The "microkernel" and > remainder of the kernel run in a single address space, and although > certain separation is (often) maintained in the source code / > abstractions, the Mach, FreeBSD, and device driver parts run in a > unified and tightly integrated way. > > Robert N M Watson > Computer Laboratory > University of Cambridge