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" Theres a core group in charge of what goes and what stays."
Actually, in Linux it's the same (f.e. Torvalds, Cox, Tosatti).

So, where the BSD team is some 10-20 people who can all get in a room and hash out details and come out with a coherent ports system, or a standard place to put software (apache goes in /var/www? Wtf patrick?), the Linux world is far too big to do that. Hell, we can't even document stuf coherently -- everything has its own man page, readme, manual, plus linux documentation project. Compare to FreeBSD's Handbook.

This is a weakness in the Linux system of cooperation. It's also a strength. Just as no one can take control of the whole thing and fix it, also nobody can break the whole thing. Even if Linux and Cox between them decided to sabotage Linux, they couldn't, whereas one guy with cvs commit privileges on cvsup.freebsd.org could give himself a root shell on every BSD box on the planet. (Okay I exaggerate -- he'd get caught, probably, but that's only because most of the people working on BSD are good guys.)

That's why I use FreeBSD!

I tried to read some Linux (the kernel) code a long while ago ... it gave me a headache

Funny, when I compare two source files from FreeBSD and other from Linux, I find the Linux version to be much easier to read. Oh well, I guess I just prefer Linus' coding conventions better.

Diff was around in Seventh Edition Unix, released in 1979 or so. Here is the man page. I think it actually dates to Sixth or even Fifth, but I can't find any confirmation at this time.

Hey, do you have any links handy for downloading a FreeBSD ISO and burning one's own FreeBSD CD?

You could try ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/IS O-IMAGES/4.4/ for ISOs, and FreeBSD.org, look on the upper right for notes on installing.

However doing that over a dial up it may make snes to buy a CD, or have someone with more bandwidth burn one and mail it.

Hey, do you have any links handy for downloading a FreeBSD ISO and burning one's own FreeBSD CD?

You could try ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/IS O-IMAGES/4.4/ for ISOs, and FreeBSD.org, look on the upper right for notes on installing.

However doing that over a dial up it may make snes to buy a CD, or have someone with more bandwidth burn one and mail it.

The answer: you go to the computer store and buy compatible hardware for FreeBSD

OK, so a fellow goes into Best Buy and looks for video card with a BSD daemon on the box. He doesn't find one.

Then he walks up to a salesperson in the department and asks "What's the best video card for a PC running FreeBSD?"

"What's FreeBSD?"

If you like the DOC Edit.com the you'd like EE (Easy Editor)

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books /h andbook/editors.html

It's got the menuing hand-holding of DOS Edit - and it's small.

On my shelf next to me, there's an official FreeBSD 2.1.7 release cd, dating back to March 1997. Makes me wonder whether they're introducing time travel as part of the 4.5 release. The release notes say nothing about that, however, and recent activity on the mailing lists doesn't mention time travel as well. It's probably some kind of secret.

Numerical Recipies - Numerical Recipes in C, 2nd edition is the numerical methods book.

Autobook - GNU Autoconf, Automake and Libtool.

GGAD - GTK+/Gnome Application Development by Havoc Pennington. I'm not sure which is better, the book or the authors name!

WGA - Writing GNOME Applications by John R. Sheets. Not complete, which is a pity. I'm sure that will change though.

Docbook - The definitive guide to SGML.

CVS book - Open Source Development with CVS by Karl Fogel. It is not quite the complete book, but it is the interesting bits.

FreeBSD Handbook - FreeBSD documentation.

Maximum RPM - Documentation for the RedHat package manager.

Based on that list, can anybody suggest further online books that I may be interested in? (Don't bother telling me about the old O'Reilly books, I know about those)

Being the person who wrote the review for Unleashed, I do think Unleashed is a good book, but it doesn't cover the software that I use daily like Postfix, Python and ProFTPD :(

I have The Complete FreeBSD (2nd and 3rd editions), FreeBSD Corp Net Guide, FreeBSD OS for PC book, FreeBSD Unleashed and both editions of the Handbook print edition. I prefer to use the soft version of the Handbook (primarily the HTML version).

It is called FreeBSD.

The Economist article does not mention the fourth and final era of AI research, which has resulted in Mentifex. Mentifex, the Artificial AI Mind, is implemented in Java and Forth. Mentifex is currently evolving at a rapid pace towards full civil rights on a par with human beings and towards superintelligence beyond any human IQ (intelligence quotient). Mentifex will not require any sort of increased wiring complexity beyond a Java VM implemented on a stable operating system. Mentifex is the project that will result in us reaching the Technological Singularity.

is the lack of Kerberos authentication, or any type of reliable authentication for that matter, in NFS. I would classify this as a 'shortcomning' rather than a 'bug' if the exports(5) manpage didn't seem to imply that it was possible. In any event, I really can't see myself using FreeBSD in any kind of production environment where security is even a minor concern when such a problem exists in NFS. Does anyone know if this issue is going to be addressed in later releases of FreeBSD? I think at least someone should take the 5 minutes to update the manpage...

xargs: FreeBSD from 2.1.6.1
find: FreeBSD from 2.0.5
xargs: Darwin from 1.3 PPC
find: Darwin from 1.3 PPC
xargs: NetBSD from 1.3
find: NetBSD from 1.0 (farthest they go back on FBSD.org)
xargs: OpenBSD from 2.1 (farthest...)
find: OpenBSD from 2.1 (farthest...)

So theres really nothing special about Linux having this feature. I'm sure that if you look through the manual pages of other Unixs you will find that many of them also have this feature.

BSD kernel development and Linux kernel development seem to be examples of two very different paradigms[1]

FreeBSD[2] kernel development, bug tracking and fixing appear to be very formal, resulting in a rather sedate evolution. Linux versions of the same thing, although every bit as centralised as BSD projects (or even more so, because Linus decides what goes into the release), appears to be much less formal--I can find no Linux equivalent of FreeBSD's bug tracking system.

The FreeBSD project does also appear to have more rigid project management. It's also much more of a single entity, too. Whereas the Linux kernel project is distinct from the distributions that use it, typically a BSD project includes management of everything from kernel development through package management to documentation, promotion and distribution of source media.

[1] Sorry for dumping the p-word on you without warning there, but I think it's merited in this case [G,D&R].

[2] Taking FreeBSD as an example of a BSD project.

I also don't see announcements of FreeBSD beta, only RELEASES. And it should stay that way.

I also don't see announcements of FreeBSD beta, only RELEASES. And it should stay that way.

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in
/usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.

More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/h andbook/ports-using.html
#FreeBSD and #FreeBSDhelp on EFnet

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in
/usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.

More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/h andbook/ports-using.html
#FreeBSD and #FreeBSDhelp on EFnet

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in
/usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.

More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/h andbook/ports-using.html
#FreeBSD and #FreeBSDhelp on EFnet

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in
/usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.

More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/h andbook/ports-using.html
#FreeBSD and #FreeBSDhelp on EFnet

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in /usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.
More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in /usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.
More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/

Since the linux people discussing on this forum are *BSD ignorant",
and the BSD people only say how great it is, and not WHAT it is.

I'll try to explain how Darwin & Free/Net/OpenBSD handle their packages/ports.

What are packages? [on a BSD system]
BSD machines have a database of installed packages
it resides in /var/db/pkg and includes several items of information
for each package :
Let's take zip-2.3 for example.

--[ cut here ]--
>ls /var/db/pkg/zip-2.3
+COMMENT +CONTENTS +DESC

>cat \+COMMENT
Create/update ZIP files compatible with pkzip

>cat \+DESC
Zip is a compression and file packaging utility. It is compatible with
PKZIP 2.04g (Phil Katz ZIP) for MSDOS systems. There is a companion to zip
called unzip (of course) which you can also install from the ports/package
system.

>cat +CONTENTS
@comment PKG_FORMAT_REVISION:1.1
@name zip-2.3
@cwd /usr/local
@comment ORIGIN:archivers/zip
man/man1/zip.1.gz
@comment MD5:eb512a4327cef91f4c5cd971dca0e534
bin/zip
@comment MD5:02da2a2388309f488724a3350a9ce9ce
bin/zipcloak
@comment MD5:d18f0d9ddd9ddacc0b0d4063fd3def40
bin/zipnote
@comment MD5:50ccc4fb0e4a33f57ede001867ebcaad
bin/zipsplit
@comment MD5:3d6696890b4313fcf1d056fade63fcd7
@unexec if [ -f %D/info/dir ]; then if sed -e '1,/Menu:/d' %D/info/dir | grep -q '^[*] '; then true; else rm %D/info/dir; fi; fi
--[ cut here ]--

What is this?
The +CONTENTS file includes a listing of all the files that
this package installed (with MD5 c/s) and commands to execute
when removing it, like removing the directories it created.

It is known that linux software writers provide with rpms, but not with FreeBSD packages.

So where do FreeBSD packages come from?

FreeBSD packages come from the ports which come from contributors, bug reporters, developers,
ports is a collection of Makefiles and patches that gets updated with CVS and with 'send-pr'
a *BSD user can send his own BSDification of software to *bsd developers for them to cvs checkin.

In the core of the ports collection there is a system of makefiles that makes it possible
to write a simple very Makefile that will do all this :
1. download the sources from known or unknown mirrors
2. extract [after checking MD5 with the source file, the sources reside in /usr/ports/distfiles]
3. patch for the specific *BSD [Darwin != OpenBSD]
4. configure [just run the configure script]
5. make [will use gnumake if the package requires it too]
6. install [add the package to the /var/db/pkg database and all the files in /usr/local or /usr/X11R6]
7. package

the mentioned 7th step [package] will create a BSD package for the port, put it in /usr/ports/packages/category/foobar-0.0.tgz
and will link the /usr/ports/packages/All/foobar.tgz to that file with the latest version.

This is what most users don't do, and what BSD mirror sites do.
The All/file.tgz makes it possible to install the latest version of the package from the ftp,
afaik this is very similar to apt-get.
On FreeBSD one would use
> pkg_add -f foobar
And will get the latest available version on the mirror,
(you can set the mirror to something closer to home if you need).

So, basicly, just typing

> cd /usr/ports/category/foobar && make && make install && make clean
or even
> cd /usr/ports/category && make install clean

Will build, and install - with all the little tweaks needed for it to run best on the BSD system.
[like all the bsd junkies have told you]

MOST IMPORTANT:
It will also install all needed dependencies that this app can't work without if they are not on
the system already.

For some basic understanding of how people make BSD ports and how to contribute
I suggest reading the porters handbook of FreeBSD which lays it out really nicely and easily.
It's shirt and simple - so take 5 minutes of your wasted time and read it.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/p orters-handbook/

The installed ports (which are now called packages) get into the /var/db/pkg database.

What is a package? [again]
It is just a precompiled port that someone else compiled for you.
There is a machine on the FreeBSD site that compiles newer ports all the time
the compiled versions get into the packages mirror, which is part of the BSD mirror.

And to summarize a few additional features :
- ports update with CVS [you always get the latest version]
- ports compile on freebsd without problems - no newbie compilation questions
- packages are the same as ports
- all bsd users contribute to ports via bug-reports ['send-pr']
you can see the "bug-reports" HERE

What tools are available for handling the database?

The basic ones that come with bsd are these :
pkg_add
pkg_deinstall
pkg_version
pkg_delete
pkg_info

Recently there have been a VERY powerfull addition to how ports are managed on BSD.
It's called 'portupgrade'.

This new portupgrade tool lets you keep track of dependencies better than what
the core package handlers and ports collection has.

The most noted extra ability that makes it so powerful,
is that it considers dependencies version specific.
Before this utility, if package A-0.1 needed package B-0.1
it installs it, because it's a dependency.
Then when package A-0.2 comes out and there is package B-0.3 available,
then when installing package A or making the port - it would
not install the dependency port B, because B-0.1 is already installed.
portsupgrades changes that, it will install a package and the latest
versions of all it's dependencies before it installs the package itself.

Second valuable thing that it will do is remove the package before it installs
a new version of it. In the past when you installed a higher version
of something - the files of the old package that no longer participate
were forgotten, and became junk - this is because the /var/db/pkg is
rewritten with new package information, but the files were not removed.
With portsupgrade it doesn't happen, portupgrade prepares the new package
to be installed, then it removes the old version before installing the new.

Another valuable resource for FreeBSD porters is http://www.freshports.org/
It keeps track of new versions of ports added to the CVS port collection,
and lists it. So you know when your latest version of foobar is written as
a port (which usually takes just a day or two after it was released).
Maybe the linux developers will read the porters handbook that i've mentioned,
and be more comformative with the BSD community.

This is enough information to get you going.
More info can be read at :
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/

I've always wondered why Slackware decided to invent their own packaging system instead of using Ports from BSD. Ports is the most awesome package management tool I've used. You get autodep handling/download install etc and you get that just compiled home brewed smell that you don't get with binary releases like DEBs and RPMs which slack and BSD users tend to like so much. ;) As I understand it Ports has already been ported to Linux so it would just be a matter of getting the specific ports together for slack. Slack and BSD are both very unixlike and appeal to largely the same type of crowd so it seems logical that they would feed off of one another's efforts when possible.

It has no problems with dependencies, because anything needed is download right then and compiled from source. It also can uninstall.

And here is the shocker... FreshPorts.

Too bad its all under BSD liscence.. cus now M$ can use all of FreeBSD's port system in Windows XP 2005+ Profestional

It has no problems with dependencies, because anything needed is download right then and compiled from source. It also can uninstall.

And here is the shocker... FreshPorts.

Too bad its all under BSD liscence.. cus now M$ can use all of FreeBSD's port system in Windows XP 2005+ Profestional

It migrated to BSD less than a year later (1997?)...

This is patently untrue. The Linux kernel is in constant competition with a myriad of other open systems out there, such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and SCO OpenServer. What is going on just happens to be on a much wider field than piddly desktop environments.

For example, there have been endless flamewars over FreeBSD's superior VM or Linux's POSIX compliance. In the end, you just have to realize that there are operating systems that are specialized in certain areas. Use the best tool for the job. If you happen to run a high-traffic Internet portal, then FreeBSD is certainly your ideal system. If you are the artistic type and enjoy dabbling in the GIMP or running your own mail server for your home network, then Linux is definitely the right tool for the job.

None of this specialization would have been possible if these other systems hadn't existed. Competition is the mother of invention, contrary to the popular proverb, and I don't doubt for a minute that Linus et al. would be resting on their laurels contemplating the wonders of FAT32 if it hadn't been for the fierce competition.

1. FreeBSD -- sysinstall is as easy as Linuxconf and, maybe, more straightforward. No marketing lingo tossed into the salad like Linux.

2. All of them are good, but FreeBSD has the Handbook. Nothing wrong with man pages, IMHO.

3. FreeBSD again, although this may be possible with the others.

4. FreeBSD. I have it running on a Toshiba Tecra 730CDT. Yoiks! The others run on far more different hardware than FreeBSD.

You can run Linux binaries on FreeBSD if you install support for it, but since the underlying system is different you can't configure BSD that way. The FreeBSD equivalent of linuxconf would probably be sysinstall. It is pretty easy to use.

Here is the supported hardware list for x86. I have FreeBSD 4.2 running on my Toshiba laptop with a Xircom NIC for God's sake. It supports plenty.

You can run Linux binaries on FreeBSD if you install support for it, but since the underlying system is different you can't configure BSD that way. The FreeBSD equivalent of linuxconf would probably be sysinstall. It is pretty easy to use.

Here is the supported hardware list for x86. I have FreeBSD 4.2 running on my Toshiba laptop with a Xircom NIC for God's sake. It supports plenty.

You can run Linux binaries on FreeBSD if you install support for it, but since the underlying system is different you can't configure BSD that way. The FreeBSD equivalent of linuxconf would probably be sysinstall. It is pretty easy to use.

Here is the supported hardware list for x86. I have FreeBSD 4.2 running on my Toshiba laptop with a Xircom NIC for God's sake. It supports plenty.

• The article given does some comparisons:
  http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceed ings/usenix2000/general/full_papers/seltzer/seltze r_html/index.html

• Then we have the Matt Dillon Interview, where Soft Updates covered as well (point 3):
  http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=153

• Here is a nice french article:
  http://www.freebsd-fr.org/docs/fr/others/systeme-f ichier/

• And this is a series of articles on file systems:
  http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/librar y/l-fs7/

• This is the original FFS paper:
  http://docs.freebsd.org/44doc/smm/05.fastfs/paper. html

Interesting article, but I'd like to see more specifics. I guess McGraw is (1) trying to sell his book and (2) talking to a wide audience as likely to include managers as developers, but what I really want are some meaty bits that, as a developer, I can directly act upon.

The FreeBSD site has some secure programming guidelines which are worth a gander.

FLASH! Murderer apprehended!
Dr. DOS confesses after being driven mad by laughing penguin!

In his first statement since capture Dr. DOS further said that the Devil made him do it.

I like this family discount idea. If I wrote to somebody at freebsd.org and asked for a family license, do you think they would give me $10 to install FreeBSD on each additional computer in my home?

The distinction is subtle. libexec is for daemons and sysutils executed by other programs. That is, they aren't called directly by a user. Here is the chapter from the FreeBSD Handbook about directory structures.

FreeBSD comes with something called a union filesystem that is exactly what the poster described. From man (8) mount_union:

DESCRIPTION
The mount_union command attaches directory above uniondir in such a way
that the contents of both directory trees remain visible. By default,
directory becomes the upper layer and uniondir becomes the lower layer.

Non-FreeBSD users can read an online version.

(If you are unfortunate and are not running BSDhttp://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/book s/handbook/dirstructure.html

$ man hier

NAME
hier - layout of filesystems

DESCRIPTION
A sketch of the filesystem hierarchy.

(..snip..)

-- Windows or Linux? Nah, I'll use a real OS (BSD)

6.12. Why is /bin/sh so minimal? Why doesn't FreeBSD use bash or another shell?

Because POSIX says that there shall be such a shell.

The more complicated answer: many people need to write shell scripts which will be portable across many systems. That is why POSIX specifies the shell and utility commands in great detail. Most scripts are written in Bourne shell, and because several important programming interfaces ( make(1), system(3), popen(3), and analogues in higher-level scripting languages like Perl and Tcl) are specified to use the Bourne shell to interpret commands. Because the Bourne shell is so often and widely used, it is important for it to be quick to start, be deterministic in its behavior, and have a small memory footprint.

Granted, not really Linux-related answer, however it does answer the question. Also, note last para of the question -- this is not about interactivityportability.

I had a little trouble figuring out how to get the /boot partition ahead of the Windows one. I found a couple ways to do it. I originally did the Linux first and deleted everything except the /boot. I installed Windows then FreeBSD and finally Linux. The other way I tried was to install Windows first and move the partition with Partition Magic and then FreeBSD and Linux.

Using lilo to boot Linux and FreeBSD

Using Boot Easy to boot Linux and FreeBSD

The FreeBSD kernel is able to run Linux binaries, once you have installed the Linux emulation port (it adds a kernel module that is able to work with Linux ABI binaries plus stores a couple of system libs compiled for Linux - so it is rather a different operation mode than an emulation).

Quake3 Arena for example works under FreeBSD just fine.

Where there is a problem is the support of acclerated graphics drivers. Where such a driver is open source, it has been ported to FreeBSD (Matrox drivers, the rather slow nvidia driver for XFree86 3.3.x series, ..). Where there is only a binary driver, and most unfortunately, this is the case for the fast nvidia drivers, this has yielded no results yet.

The problem is that while the nvidia binary driver might work in theory on all x86 plattforms, with just a different kernel interfacing (for which the source exists), in reality it does only run with certain Linux kernels. Here is a report that goes into details.

Regards,
Marc

I believe the devil mascot is referred to as the FreeBSD Daemon. The FreeBSD should have more details.

You are 100% right. That's why I use Free Software.

I must admit I am rather unfamiliar with this, but according to XFree86.org, ``Support for other operating systems, such as FreeBSD, is underway''.

Sound (emu10k) would often not work, needing a few reboots (mind you.. this never happened with Linux, so it shouldn't be a hardware issue).

I think I know what you are talking about. My machine (which runs FreeBSD only, and has for quite some time) will occasionally just play loud random noise instead of music. So far it has only happened a few times, and rebooting fixes it, which is very odd for something that isn't Windows. Could somebody point me in the direction of more information on this?

Ports would often not fetch or build, because they depend on some other port with a specific version, which in turn isn't available anymore.

Now that one is incredibly easy to fix, just modify the Makefile, and I have only run in to this about 5 or 6 times anyway, not often by any means of the word, and I have installed nearly everything in the ports tree (need to get a new hard drive soon because of it).

Securelevels are nice, but as soon as you rise em one above the lowest you cannot start X anymore, so this gets ruled out for workstations.

A lot of FreeBSD machines are not workstations. However, a few more levels where X is usable might be nice, that I will agree with.

CVSupping the source is nice, but what for? I got the same with apt-get upgrade and it finished faster.

I don't even know how long it takes, because I just have it run as a cron job weekly, so that I don't even need to deal with it. I don't see how that would be a real issue.

Compiling from source is nice, but I didn't see any improvements over binary packages.

You can download binary packages for FreeBSD as well as the source ports. See this page in The FreeBSD Handbook for a good explanation of the differences between packages and ports.

I must admit I am rather unfamiliar with this, but according to XFree86.org, ``Support for other operating systems, such as FreeBSD, is underway''.

Sound (emu10k) would often not work, needing a few reboots (mind you.. this never happened with Linux, so it shouldn't be a hardware issue).

I think I know what you are talking about. My machine (which runs FreeBSD only, and has for quite some time) will occasionally just play loud random noise instead of music. So far it has only happened a few times, and rebooting fixes it, which is very odd for something that isn't Windows. Could somebody point me in the direction of more information on this?

Ports would often not fetch or build, because they depend on some other port with a specific version, which in turn isn't available anymore.

Now that one is incredibly easy to fix, just modify the Makefile, and I have only run in to this about 5 or 6 times anyway, not often by any means of the word, and I have installed nearly everything in the ports tree (need to get a new hard drive soon because of it).

Securelevels are nice, but as soon as you rise em one above the lowest you cannot start X anymore, so this gets ruled out for workstations.

A lot of FreeBSD machines are not workstations. However, a few more levels where X is usable might be nice, that I will agree with.

CVSupping the source is nice, but what for? I got the same with apt-get upgrade and it finished faster.

I don't even know how long it takes, because I just have it run as a cron job weekly, so that I don't even need to deal with it. I don't see how that would be a real issue.

Compiling from source is nice, but I didn't see any improvements over binary packages.

You can download binary packages for FreeBSD as well as the source ports. See this page in The FreeBSD Handbook for a good explanation of the differences between packages and ports.

Ports is nice if you're installing a program from scratch and leaving it, but if you update your ports collection, there's no method to update a single package! You need to uninstall every package that depends on the one you're trying to upgrade by hand, then install all of them AGAIN through ports.