Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 23:31:10 -0700 From: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> To: "Thomas M. Sommers" <tms2@mail.ptd.net>, "Brett Glass" <brett@lariat.org> Cc: <chat@FreeBSD.ORG>, <advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Emulation (Was: No port of Opera?) Message-ID: <NCBBLIEPOCNJOAEKBEAKAEKGJJAA.davids@webmaster.com> In-Reply-To: <396818F2.51CF061C@mail.ptd.net>
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> But these market forces will probably still not be strong enough to > produce native ports. > In a previous post you gave two reasons for considering Linux versions > unsuitable: 1) lack of support, and 2) lack of performance/quality. > 1) If a vendor can't or won't provide resources to support Linux > versions on FreeBSD, it almost certainly can't or won't provide the much > greater resources to produce a native FreeBSD port. The really depends upon the resources/reward ratio. In many cases, it's a lot easier to make a FreeBSD native version than try to get everything to work right under emulation. The support headaches are approximately the same either way, at least in my experience. If you're going to officially endorse the use of your Linux build under FreeBSD, you're going to have to support it. > 2) If a particular Linux binary doesn't run well enough on FreeBSD, then > the vendor's decision to make a native port will be the same regardless > of the existence of Linux binary support. If the binary does run well > enough, it doesn't really matter that it is not native; it gets the job > done. Of course a native version would be nice, but it would not be > necessary. What would happen in that case is that the vendor would be in a troubling situation. They'd either have to rescind FreeBSD support (and then refund money to FreeBSD customers and remove a platform from their support list) or make a native build. I know that if my company were faced with that problem, we'd make a native build in a second. (Of course, we already have one, but that's not the point.) The existence of Linux emulation simply gives application developers another way to support BSD. They will pick the one they think is better, based upon considerations of effort required and reward expected to be derived. If it's in fact easier to officially support the Linux version on FreeBSD, then that will provide a great stepping stone for getting to real FreeBSD support. Later, with a proven customer base and demonstrated interest, a business case can be made for improving FreeBSD support. DS To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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