Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 08:14:15 -0500 (EST) From: "Donald R. Tyson" <tyson@alumni.stanford.org> To: FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Daemon not Demon (the difference is significant) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990313081022.6080B-100000@homebase.wizard.net>
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From the FreeBSD web page:
(begin quote)
The BSD Daemon
The little red fellow that graces many of these pages is the BSD Daemon. In the context of
Unix systems, daemons are process that run in the background attending to various tasks
without human intervention. In the general sense, daemon is an older form of the word
demon. In the Unix System Administration Handbook, Evi Nemeth has this to say about
daemons:
"Many people equate the word ``daemon'' with the word ``demon,'' implying some kind of
Satanic connection between UNIX and the underworld. This is an egregious
misunderstanding. ``Daemon'' is actually a much older form of ``demon''; daemons have
no particular bias towards good or evil, but rather serve to help define a person's
character or personality. The ancient Greeks' concept of a ``personal daemon'' was
similar to the modern concept of a ``guardian angel'' --- ``eudaemonia'' is the state
of being helped or protected by a kindly spirit. As a rule, UNIX systems seem to be
infested with both daemons and demons." (p403)
The earliest (and most popular) renditions of the BSD Daemon were created by John
Lassiter. More recent FreeBSD-specific renditions have done by [2]Tatsumi Hosokawa, but
the basic inspiration was definitely John's. The copyright holder and creator of the
daemon image is [3]Marshall Kirk McKusick. A short [4]pictorial history is also available.
There is a gallery of FreeBSD related [5]publications that use variations of the daemon
graphic.
<snipped>
References
1. LYNXIMGMAP:http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/daemon.html#bar
2. http://www.mt.cs.keio.ac.jp/person/hosokawa.html
3. mailto:mckusick@mckusick.com
4. http://www.mckusick.com/beastie/index.html
5. http://www.freebsd.org/publish.html
6. http://www.de.freebsd.org/de/gif/bsd/index.html#plushies
7. http://www.freibergnet.de/shop/impressum.de.html
8. mailto:mckusick@mckusick.com
9. http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/copyright.html
10. http://www.freebsd.org/mailto.html
(end quote)
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