Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:38:20 -0400 From: Rob Garrett <eagle@eagle.phc.igs.net> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Looking for *BSD Insight... Message-ID: <99081615401501.03313@eagle.phc.igs.net> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9908161301290.29371-100000@gwdu60.gwdg.de>
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On Mon, 16 Aug 1999, Konrad Heuer wrote: > On Mon, 16 Aug 1999, Olaf Stoyke wrote: > > > Hello, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG! > > > > I've learned that there is a FreeBSD, a NetBSD and > > an OpenBSD (hoping that I have not forgotten a member > > of the *BSD group :). From a developer's point of > > view, the following questions are quite interesting: > > > > - What are the differences of these three versions/ > > releases/distributions? > > As far as I know: > > The goal of the NetBSD project is to make the OS available on all hardware > platforms capable of running a virtual memory system. The FreeBSD project > concentrates on the i386 and the alpha platforms and is interested to > achieve best perfomance. The OpenBSD project doesn't support as many > platforms as NetBSD, but more than FreeBSD. The OpenBSD project wants to > make its OS the most secure open source OS. > > Historically, the NetBSD was the very first one, and the FreeBSD project > started a little bit later. Both use a more hierarchical development model > with a fixed core team, registered system developers etc. OpenBSD spinned > off from NetBSD later, and its model is more liberal and a bit like the > Linux model. > My understanding is that historically, the 386 bsd project split into two groups netbsd and freebsd..... so technically neither one was really before the other > > - What are the differences in the system APIs? > > > > Since all three systems are based on 4.4BSD-Lite2, the last version of > Berkeley UNIX, the differences shouldn't be very serious. > > > > - Provided that I find the time to do so, is it > > possible to develop device drivers for all three > > ebvironments based on one source? Or are the > > interfaces required to build/install the driver > > too different to make this approach possible? > > I'mt not a kernel programmer but I expect the kernel sources to be very > different. > > > - If the differences are of practically no relevance > > (only minor stuff), are there plans to unite the > > three *BSDs or to (at least) build some uniform > > device driver interfaces so that a driver can be > > used without modifications? > > People say the best chances for unification are in the userland. > > Regards > > // > // Konrad Heuer ____ ___ _______ > // Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche / __/______ ___ / _ )/ __/ _ \ > // Datenverarbeitung mbH GÖttingen / _// __/ -_) -_) _ |\ \/ // / > // Am Faßberg, D-37077 GÖttingen /_/ /_/ \__/\__/____/___/____/ > // Deutschland (Germany) ----- The Power to Serve ----- > // http://www.freebsd.org > // kheuer@gwdu60.gwdg.de > // > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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