[Gloucs] BSD

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2009 at 06:15:58PM +0100, Geoff Bagley wrote:
> I note a recent idea that Debian will release an operating system with a 
> normal user interface, but with a FreeBSD kernel.
> 
> This is interesting,  but why are there three BSD (unices)  and what is 
> the difference  between them ? 
> I guess it must be  some legal  or license crap rather  than something 
> in the real world of technology.
> 

It probably goes way back to when BSD was licence encumbered with some 
AT&T "stuff".

386/BSD was the first port which contained some code whose authorship 
was later disputed.

NetBSD grew out of that. NetBSD is famous for working on everything 
except a toaster (and later acquired much of the code from FreeBSD).

The result of the copyright "stuff" was 4.4 BSD which had large 
amounts of code redacted which needed to be re-implemented.

FreeBSD was 4.4 made workable. It has the widest range of ports 
available (I think).

OpenBSD was FreeBSD made secure. Theo de Raadt is an interesting 
character - an excellent engineer but with an abrasive reputation.
FreeBSD is minimalist to the extreme.

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a 4-BSD
My friends all got sources
So why can't I see
To hell with the lawyers and AT&T
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a 4-BSD"

[With apologies to Janis Joplin :)]

> Are any of us already using FreeBSD,  and how well does it compare with 
> Linux ?
> 

Similar but different - If you came from SunOS, you'd feel right at home 
:)

> Any views ?
> 
> Geoff
> 
> 
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