Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:19:39 -0400 From: John Holland <jholland@vin-dit.org> To: Bigby James <bigby.james@dimthoughts.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Exist more advantage in doing design using open source or operating system of closed source? Message-ID: <1A121D58-971F-4E46-96A3-4B570379AE13@vin-dit.org> In-Reply-To: <20150323230909.GB2486@WorkBox.Home> References: <CAKfdDEKHk%2Bg4N0hwOrRZvXKRrTygsnS-=3s2s%2Bt38MUtUgmKmg@mail.gmail.com> <20150321165157.GA2740@WorkBox.Home> <9C384F2A-DE7A-4AEC-AFA5-81FA0901F984@vin-dit.org> <20150323230909.GB2486@WorkBox.Home>
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Interesting. I=92ve been using Linux, FreeBSD or Solaris for about 20 = years. I=92d been on Linux (mainly RedHat and Debian) for the last maybe = 8 years. I recently switched to FreeBSD on my server and started booting = into OS X on my Macbook out of disgust with the systemd situation. I = still have a really nice Debian/enlightenment setup on the other = partition on the Macbook. I haven=92t booted it in a few weeks. I=92m finding FreeBSD to be very nice, the fact that it has pkgng now is = a big plus. Everything is very clean and well thought out, and = documented, as you say. I=92ve learned a little new stuff like jails.=20 I was using zfsonlinux.org to get ZFS on Debian, but it is so much = better in FreeBSD where it is well integrated.=20 I think Linux is headed into uncharted territory, that may make the = statement true that =93GNU=92s not UNIX=94. On Mar 23, 2015, at 7:09 PM, Bigby James <bigby.james@dimthoughts.com> = wrote: > On 03/21, John Holland wrote: >> why the switch to freebsd and what virtualization solution are you = using? >=20 > I just use VirtualBox, with a virtual disk just large enough to hold = Windows 7 > Pro and Adobe Creative Suite 6, plus some room for updates. I'm using = an SSD and > quad-core CPU, and dedicate half my (usually unused) RAM to it, so it = starts up > in ten seconds or so and runs perfectly fine. >=20 > As for why I switched from Linux to FreeBSD, that's a little involved; = I'll try > and keep this short. Up to a few months before making the switch I'd = been using > Arch Linux for several years (still do on my Raspberry Pi), and 90% of = the time > that worked extremely well. But minor inconveniences due to frequent, = untested > updates had started to annoy me, and I'd recently gotten on a real = kick about > system stability and preserving my data. So I started looking at other = distros. >=20 > The problem was that, due to the way GNU/Linux systems are built, = there's no way > to get a system that offers both a high degree of relatively certain = stability, > and a high degree of low-level control over the system structure. No = distro I > tried could be "Arch, but without the risk of breaking something every = day." The > list of distributions I considered worth my time and effort ended up = being > pretty small (four, in fact). I'd been interested in FreeBSD for a = while because > its design philosophy jibed with me---I'd read Matt Fuller's "BSD for = Linux > Users"[1] some years ago---but since I exclusively use laptops I had = to wait 18 > months or so for the integrated GPU driver to catch up before giving = it a proper > try on my present machines. In the meantime I'd grab a snapshot every = so often > and see how it ran. Through sheer serendipity FreeBSD-RELEASE 10.1 = came out > while I was on my new OS hunt, and all the important stuff worked out = of the > box, so I installed FreeBSD to a second disk and figured I'd give it = two weeks > or so to see how it might work as a primary OS. >=20 > It only took about four or five days for me to fall in love with = FreeBSD. Most > of my Linux knowledge translated just fine. The outstanding = documentation, the > "rolling-release you update anytime you feel like it with = substantially lower > risk of breaking something" nature of the ports tree and -STABLE = branches, the > layout of the filesystem, the similarities between Arch and FreeBSD = software > management (thanks to pkg(8) integration), the quality and features of = UFS and > ZFS, the astonishing simplicity of building a custom kernel and = setting custom > build-time options for ports and the base system, the easy manner of = configuring > and automating system services, the fact that there are conventions of = style and > organization for the code and documentation, and the careful = consideration that > clearly goes into choosing components of the base system, and the = obvious > determination to focus on getting one thing right instead of = reinventing the > wheel every couple years---it's all just too awesome. Hell, I think = one of the > most impressive features that helped lure me in was the simple fact = that the man > pages in FreeBSD are complete, coherent *and* are width-constrained. = I'd gotten > used to reading poorly written man pages that were 600 characters long = and > contained little more than "This man page is incomplete. I'll get = around to > finishing it later. (Dated July 2009)." And the man pages that did it = were > sound(4) and build(7)---even *concepts* behind the system are = documented here. > That's some commendably insane attention to detail. >=20 > As a comparison to Linux, FreeBSD basically takes the best features of = Debian, > Gentoo and Arch, combines them, and improves upon all of them. Which = makes > sense, considering that comparison is backwards and all three = distributions were > in fact inspired in varying degrees by FreeBSD. ;) >=20 > [1]: http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01 >=20 > --=20 > "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something = completely > foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - = Douglas Adams >=20 > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to = "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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