Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 12:03:46 -0500 From: Greg Lehey <grog@mojave.sitaranetworks.com> To: Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: General thoughts and questions on FreeBSD Message-ID: <19991122120346.06272@mojave.sitaranetworks.com> In-Reply-To: <3835DD2A.5E9751AE@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>; from Jonathon McKitrick on Fri, Nov 19, 1999 at 06:28:43PM -0500 References: <3835DD2A.5E9751AE@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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[Format recovered--see http://www.lemis.com/email/email-format.html] On Friday, 19 November 1999 at 18:28:43 -0500, Jonathon McKitrick wrote: > A 'hacker' friend of mine who is quite a Unix guru and who loves Linux > gave FreeBSD a try recently. These were his comments: > > > I *really* dislike the kernel configuration -- enabling/disabling > features causes the compile to crap out in different areas, so doing > anything fancy becomes a time-intensive trial-and-error > job. Awful. This sounds like he's run into unusual problems. I've discussed this matter with Linux people before; they have some kind of GUI interface to kernel configuration. I don't like that idea, since it requires learning Yet Another Interface, but there may be some advantage in having a configuration file checker. One reason that we don't is because we're trying to get rid of the configuration file altogether. Don't ask what we'll have instead; I don't know. > And inflexible too; I was not able to select a PCMCIA NIC and a > normal NIC [yeah, I was just toying around, but what if I had a > docking station?] without the compile crapping out. That's definitely pilot error. He's obviously talking about a laptop here; maybe he didn't notice the comments about pccard support. > And the recommended FP stuff ['use GNU'] caused a kernel panic when > I rebooted. I don't know what he's talking about here. First, he shouldn't need an FP emulator unless he's running a really old machine. Secondly, the GNU FP emulator doesn't cause panics. > The docs seem more sparse for BSD --no NAG, so LPG, no SAG-- but > maybe I just never poked around enough. Well, I suppose we don't have them. At any rate, I don't know what these TLAs mean. But then, it's not Linux. > A lot of FreeBSD is the same as linux, of course, as linux is > rather heavily influenced by the BSD camp and they use many of the > same tools. > > I like linux better even thouhg the bsd daemon is cooler ;) Linux > seems more flexible and seems to be a general unix with enhancements > --like vim is to vi-- whereas FreeBSD is quirkly like the other > unixes. For some reason, linux never seemed to have many 'quirks' to > me [relative to other unixes that is] -- everything is > straightforward, and the tendency to implement both SysV and BSD > features means it will act however you expect it to. FWIW, I've been doing some work with RedHat Linux lately. To use your friend's words, I like FreeBSD better. FreeBSD seems more flexible and seems to be a general unix with enhancements --like vim is to vi-- whereas Linux is quirkly. For some reason, FreeBSD never seemed to have many 'quirks' to me [relative to other unixes that is] -- everything is straightforward, and it will act however you expect it to. The real answer is in the last phrase, of course: "however you expect it to". Your friend is used to Linux, and he is comfortable with it. FreeBSD does some things differently. That causes problems with FreeBSD for your friend, and problems with Linux for me. [Disclaimer: Don't take my statements above as being a criticism of Linux. They're an explanation for why people have difficulties with other systems once they're comfortable with one]. > Of course I like BSD better than SysV [another factor influencing by > Solaris views], but the SysV init stuff is quite nice.... I wouldn't have thought that the System V init stuff would be that important. We have discussed it several times, and we have implemented some of it, but the general feeling is that it's not flexible enough. > Any thoughts on his kernel issues? Much the same as many people who post here: if you have problems, please describe in sufficient detail that we have some chance of addressing them. Obviously these are not typical problems. > Those seem to be the only ones that are major issues here. Is > FreeBSD 'quirky' ? As others have commented, that depends on your interpretation of 'quirk'. > And what advantages/disadvantages does FreeBSD kernel configuration > have compared to Linux ? The FreeBSD configuration system is more flexible. It does, admittedly, offer you the chance to shoot yourself in the foot. It's like the difference between cutting wood with a handsaw or with a chainsaw. You can't hurt yourself nearly as much with a handsaw. Greg -- When replying to this message, please copy the original recipients. For more information, see http://www.lemis.com/questions.html Finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key See complete headers for address and phone numbers To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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