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FreeBSD 4.6

An Anonymous Coward writes "FreeBSD 4.6 is out! The announcement is out, and so are the release notes. Have fun, and thanks to the FreeBSD team!" The announcement has all the mirror information, etc.

120 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re:*BSD is dying by aic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Isn't Apple's Mac OSX a BSD unix?

  2. Great to hear it... by Meat+Blaster · · Score: 5, Interesting
    It looks like they took care of the handful of things that were causing me a lot of problems. Not only that, but I'm rather intrigued by this bit:

    Selected network drivers now implement a semi-polling mode, which makes systems much more resilient to attacks and overloads.

    A partial defense against IP DoS attacks?

    Another thing that looks really cool is that reboot now takes a flag to tell it which kernel to reboot to. Isn't this cool? Granted, most of the time on my Linux system I'm at the console when I do a reboot, so I can just pick it from GRUB, but for remote reboots this could be quite handy. And they've eliminated the deal with the odd legit TCP SYN packet from crashing the box to boot. In a nutshell, it's time to start downloading...

    1. Re:Great to hear it... by cbcbcb · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you use lilo you can use lilo -R to select which kernel to boot.

  3. Re:software for BSD by dajjer · · Score: 1

    Linux binary emulation layers, I'd presume.
    They're available with the release, I think, can't really remember correctly.

    --
    my dvd discs won't fit in a:
  4. Re:software for BSD by Janon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Much Free Software from linux compiles fine on BSD, if that isn't what you meen by being a programmer. Otherwise, you can mount your linux system under /usr/compat/linux, add linux_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf and run your linux binaries as they are.

    --

    And poke her, with the soft cushions!!!

  5. Re:Been there... by Leimy · · Score: 2

    not possible.. I updated last night and built it. This morning I updated it again. Now it actually says FreeBSD 4.6 RELEASE not RC #0.

  6. Re:Great! by Leimy · · Score: 2, Informative

    November 25th.

  7. semi-polling mode by sigxcpu · · Score: 5, Informative

    AFAIK selected polling mode means that after an interupt the driver switches to poling mode to avoid the interrupt overhead.
    Some of Donald Becker's linux driver have this feature.
    This improves system stabillity and responsivenes under high nework loads, and avoides the so called 'livelock' where the system isn't hung but it is wasting so much time doing interupt handling that it can't do anything else.
    This is a GOOD THING but it won't help much against DDOS

    --
    As of Postgres v6.2, time travel is no longer supported.
    1. Re:semi-polling mode by Espen+Skoglund · · Score: 2

      Get a grip. Polling always require less resources than interrupts. It's only a matter of choosing when to do the polling (i.e., when there is something to be polled). Of course, for slow devices like keyboards, polling does not really make that much sense, but the poster was talking about using polling under high network loads. Using interruptions really is costly. Not only do you have the direct cost of the interruption (stalling pipes, switching context, etc.), but interruptions can also induce indirect overhead by cache invalidations, etc. Take a look at the Soft Timers stuff for a good example of how to use polling.

    2. Re:semi-polling mode by bluGill · · Score: 3, Informative

      It always has. However the catch is that when there is no data to read polling still uses resources. So if 99% of the time there is data to read you are better off polling for it. If most of the time there is no data you are better off with the interupt overhead.

      I know one product that gets around this by having the interupt handler never exit until there is no data, so if you are streaming data in they stay in the interupt handler, often for as much as 20 seconds at a time. Of course this means you can't do any other processing on the system, but that is okay for their application. There are many other ways around this, but you have to know your application to try them.

  8. Re:Been there... by flynn_nrg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The fact that the mini iso as already there doesn't mean it had been officially released. A new version of FreeBSD is not officially out until the announcement is made. This is necessary because isos and files need to be mirrored before the load spike comes. For the rest of us, we just cvsup and don't really worry when it comes :-)

    flynn@kajsa# uname -a
    FreeBSD kajsa.energyhq.tk 4.6-STABLE FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE #0: Sun Jun 16 14:08:54 CEST 2002 root@kajsa.energyhq.tk:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/KAJSA i386

  9. Re:software for BSD by elbuddha · · Score: 4, Informative


    # cd /usr/ports/emulators/linux_base
    # make install
    # echo 'linux_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf


    Note that if you choose linux binary compatibility during installation, the above is done for you.

    For some things (vmware) you may need to add linprocfs to /etc/fstab.

    linux_base comes with rpm, et al. Rarely, you may need to copy some shared libraries from a linux box to the the appropriate directories under /usr/compat/linux/

    Really, its easy. The FreeBSD handbook does a good job of explaining.

  10. Alright, by GldisAter · · Score: 3, Funny

    We are now accepting bets on whether or not Slashdot announces 4.7 before it is actually released and by how many days.

    1. Re:Alright, by dannycarroll · · Score: 1

      Put me down for 50 bucks.

    2. Re:Alright, by jbridge21 · · Score: 1

      Put me down for 24-48 hours before.

  11. GAAHH! by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    I JUST installed Suse 8, now this. I need another HD, that's all there is to it...

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    1. Re:GAAHH! by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

      What? you mean like watching tv? wait...i mean editing video...I also surf the net. Mainly it's a waste of time, but as long as i'm wasting time, I may as well do it right...

      --
      If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    2. Re:GAAHH! by Inthewire · · Score: 1

      Bullshit, boy. I'm finding an average price of $200 on drives with those specs. Gimmie a link and I'll buy 2.

      --


      Writers imply. Readers infer.
  12. figures by jhines · · Score: 4, Funny

    I installed 4.5 yesterday. Sigh.

    1. Re:figures by R.Caley · · Score: 1

      cvsup
      make buildworld installworld buildkernel installkernel
      mergemaster
      reboot

      --
      _O_
      .|<
      The named which can be named is not the true named
    2. Re:figures by AilleCat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Time to learn how to use cvsup

      then cd /usr/src
      make buildworld
      make buildkernel
      make installkernel
      reboot
      make installworld
      mergemaster

      then optional: reboot again

      :)

      --
      FreeBSD The Power to Serve
    3. Re:figures by White+Shadow · · Score: 2

      Heh, fortunately, upgrading FreeBSD is pretty painless (at least, in my experience). Simply upgrade the source code in /usr/src (I recommend using CVSUP), then type "make buildworld && make installworld" while in /usr/src. More detailed instructions can be found in the handbook.

    4. Re:figures by ecliptik · · Score: 1

      I was almost on that boat with ya too yesterday. I was redoing a game server and was trying out different OSs, OpenBSD first, then Gentoo, and today I was goin to do FreeBSD 4.5, boy am I'm glad I was itching more to try Gentoo.

    5. Re:figures by stripes · · Score: 2
      Simply upgrade the source code in /usr/src (I recommend using CVSUP), then type "make buildworld && make installworld" while in /usr/src.

      Er....do not forget to run mergemaster before you reboot. It will help you adjust anything in /etc that needs changing without destroying everything you had altered before. Or better yet, as the previous poster suggests, read the upgrade part of the handbook.

    6. Re:figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      What??? You have to reboot??? Omigod, I've had FreeBSD running for 1256 days, 12 hours, 4 minutes, and 34 seconds. I can't reboot!!?!??

    7. Re:figures by Dr.+Wang · · Score: 1


      make installkernel
      reboot


      I prefer to make installkernel, then dropping to single user mode, then make installworld. Then no rebooting at all is really necessary.

    8. Re:figures by Fweeky · · Score: 2

      Personally I use:

      mv /usr/obj /usr/obj.old
      cd /usr/src
      make update
      mergemaster -C
      make buildworld
      make buildkernel
      make installkernel
      make installworld
      reboot

      Although this is just a single user server. mergemaster -C is important with major changes because rc knobs can change occasionally; e.g. sendmail_enable has spawned a lot of friends for all the other daemons it runs.

    9. Re:figures by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      I actually installed 4.6 a couple of days ago. Yes, that's 4.6-RELEASE. The .iso-images weren't available, but the handbook on the server already pointed to the install-floppies for 4.6, so I downloaded and installed. Installing from ftp was painless (much better than 4.6-rc2 from CD). It really seems a bit faster than Debian GNU/Linux, although ports isn't quite as idiot-proof as apt. Getting gdm to work didn't happen automtically, among other things.

      And I can't figure out how to mount a logical partition containing a FAT32 filesystem. But that's probably because I'm clueless :-)

    10. Re:figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      Well, it's trivial to upgrade to 4.6, once you have *any* bsd version installed. (Well, so long as you're in the same major version numbers, upgrades are simple.)
      Just:
      1. cvsup -h cvsupX.freebsd.org /usr/share/examples/cvsup/stabl e-supfile
        Where 'X' is one of the cvsup servers, like cvsup2.freebsd.org, cvsup3.freebsd.org, etc.
      2. cd /usr/src/ && make buildworld
      3. make installworld
      4. mergemaster
        NOTE: READ what mergemaster has to say!!!
      5. make buildkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_MACHINE && make installkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_MACHINE
        Where YOUR_MACHINE is your edited copy of /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC. See /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/LINT for various options.

      It's a snap to keep your bsd box updated. I even have a cron job to build it at 2 a.m. I then manually run mergemaster, and take the rest from there. It's that simple.
    11. Re:figures by RiC!N · · Score: 1

      This is wrong. Read the damn handbook.

    12. Re:figures by RiC!N · · Score: 1

      Hmm.. wouldn't you like to make sure that your userland comes up OK too? It's going to be a PITA if it turns out it doesnt but only after you reboot the box... 30 days later...

    13. Re:figures by RiC!N · · Score: 1

      See mount_msdos(8). BTW, you don't mount a partition, you mount a filesystem.

    14. Re:figures by essdodson · · Score: 1

      Unlike the majority of the Linux distributions, zero settings are lost when upgrading. Upgrade routes are painless and don't leave you with an entirely different system than when you began. With mergemaster you're presented diffs between your current configuration and the new one, you can merge them line by line picking out the changes you don't want, or simply install the new one. Fearing a FreeBSD update is pointless, the process is painless and simple.

      --
      scott
    15. Re:figures by ealar+dlanvuli · · Score: 1

      If your into deep magic, I'm sure you can swap the new kernel into place w/o actually going to a post screen, I doubt you could do it in multi-user mode though.

      --
      I live in a giant bucket.
    16. Re:figures by nguyenhm · · Score: 1

      It's a jailed machine (see the jail man page).

  13. Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by korpiq · · Score: 4, Interesting


    My frustration grew last year proportionally with the time it took to make Linux 2.4 stable enough for production server use. It still makes me a bit nervous and I have decided to go for *BSD in future where possible.

    However, since Linux got most of the hype, most *nix desktop stuff especially from commercial side like game companies is targeted for it. So it makes sense to use it on the desktop. Just keep your data on the servers ;)

    More experienced administrators: do you support this kind of dualism?

    --

    I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
    1. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by halftrack · · Score: 1

      Not to mention that asking someone if they've heard of Linux gives a better yes-odds than asking if they've heard of BSD.

      --
      Look a monkey!
    2. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by White+Shadow · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, I use FreeBSD for both desktop and server. I admit that I originally made this decision based on my familiarity with FreeBSD and I was a bit apprehensive, but I've found it to be just as good for everything I do. My original concern was hardware support (getting XFree86 4.x to work properly and firewire support), but it hasn't been a problem. Over the past couple weeks, I've successfully installed one of the 4.6 pre-releases on my laptop, including the firewire cd-rom drive and internal wireless card. Tangentially, I must say that networking with FreeBSD is incredibly easy, I was amazed at how little effort it took to get the wireless card up and running.

      I think FreeBSD works fine on the desktop, but then again, I don't really play games. I use all the same software as linux folks such as galeon, gaim, enlightenment, kde, etc

    3. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by numbuscus · · Score: 1

      I tend to agree. I currently manage a couple small networks and FreeBSD has always given me the reliability I needed - especially in the server realm. For workstations, I am forced to use Windows and a bit of Linux, but my box is FreeBSD/Windows. I tried Linux (Debian) for a time and was impressed with dselect and the whole packaging system; however, I did have some stability issues (most likely my fault) and I reverted to FreeBSD. I've never had a FreeBSD system crash on me and the only complaint I do have is the delay between the Linux release of some software and the time it takes to find its way into ports. I guess I could install by hand - but I'm lazy.

    4. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by stripes · · Score: 3, Informative
      However, since Linux got most of the hype, most *nix desktop stuff especially from commercial side like game companies is targeted for it. So it makes sense to use it on the desktop. Just keep your data on the servers ;)

      I have about 15 years of experiance with BSD systems (I'm counting SunOS 3, SunOS 4, and AOS as BSD systems). That kind of made my shy away from Linux systems and their vaguely Sys5 flavor...but not forever. About a year ago I bought a machine to run Linux on. I used it as a desktop on and off for about 11 months, and then finally put FreeBSD on it. Now my only Linux is my TiVo (and...um...my emergency backup TiVo).

      All of the desktop stuff I ever ran under Linux was already running on my older FreeBSD machines, and I never really liked the Linux package managment.

      That's not to say Linux is crap, or FreeBSD is a better desktop machine...just that FreeBSD makes a fine desktop, and if you are talking about yourself, supporting one is easier then supporting both. I would say to everyone else out there that has only run BSD systems, give Linux a whirl sometime. The things I didn't like about it are definitly not the things I thought I would dislike. And to those of you that never gave BSD a shot? Go for it.

      (besides if you want a real desktop Unix...we all know OSX is the way to go... plus, finally full hardware support for laptop Unix! and a sub-second unsusspend from sleep...)

      More experienced administrators: do you support this kind of dualism?

      I use to do Unix support for a University. We went from only having 68000 Suns to having SPARCs, DEC-MIPS, IBM RTs, and some other things while I was there (i.e. one of to four or five). Adding support for the second one is a giant pain...but if you do it right adding the next three isn't bad.

    5. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by stripes · · Score: 1
      I read that, and my first thought was "Man, that's a lot of Suns..."

      Er, yeah... I think it was around 150 to 200 Sun 3 machines, and one Sun 2. Later maybe 30 to 60 MIPS machines, maybe as many as 200 more SPARCs, the threat of 100s of RTs, which turned out to be...12 or so? 20 or 30 VAXStations which we turned into X terminls, so they don't count. It was a decade ago, I don't remember all the numbers! It was also a good crash corse in going from a "mere power user" to a network wide admin. Right on the cutting edge of Kerb 4, learned perl as it went from perl 3 to perl 4...and watched the PCs slowly catch up to the low end workstations.

    6. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by Arandir · · Score: 2

      I'm using FreeBSD at home on my desktop, and at work on my workstation. I'm not using it as a server at all since I don't have a need for a server. I'm running Xfree86-4.2.0 with DRM, KDE-3.0.1, Mozilla, Xmms, Wine, etc. FreeBSD has an excellent Linux compatibility mode, so most Linux commercial software will run just fine.

      Benefits: easy upgradability, customization and optimization via source code.

      Drawbacks: you have to wait until the bleeding stops before the bleeding edge stuff is ported over.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    7. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by Bishop · · Score: 5, Informative

      I have used FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and various Linux distros on i386 hardware. In my experience Linux and FreeBSD are excellent on the desktop, and FreeBSD and OpenBSD are excellent on servers.

      I find that the default install (without X) of both FreeBSD and OpenBSD has "everything I want in a server and nothing more." The ports system is there for the few extras you may want (like bash). Basically the defaults for the ports system and the install are sane. When I want a server I install *BSD get it running and forget about it. Usually I install OpenBSD as the install is easier, and it is slightly smaller.

      No linux distro gives you this. I love Debian but it is suffereing from bloat. That and the default Debian install isen't good enough, because there isen't a true default. Something about giving the user choice. I don't need choice on my servers. I want an install that has been tested and works. Slackware dosen't have a ports/package system like FreeBSD. Again I want packages that has been tested and work. Slackware also has a hideous config. Editing all those files in /etc/rc.d/ is not the way to go. Use OpenBSD and you will understand. Gentoo is interesting. I just started useing it. It has promise, but it needs an easier install. It also needs a better default install. I like it and will continue to use it, but not on my servers. You really have to sit down and use FreeBSD or OpenBSD for a while before you will understand how lacking Linux distros are when it comes to servers.

      For the desktop I have been useing Debian. I don't care too much about the bloat on the desktop and 'apt-get install package-name' is great. When it came to a desktop shoot out between Debian and FreeBSD, Debian/Linux won becuase ALSA supports my Trident 4D-NX sound card better then FreeBSD. In my experience Linux often supports uncommon bits of hardware better then FreeBSD. There isen't a native Mozilla for OpenBSD, so I haven't really used OpenBSD on the desktop.

      For firewalls I have not used FreeBSD, only OpenBSD. OpenBSD has one of the best packet filters out there. It is easy to configure, and works. FreeBSD has something very similar. Recently I have been useing Linux as a firewall due to some funky stuff you can do with equalcost routeing, QOS, and bandwidth shapeing. If you don't need these features then OpenBSD is best. Linux can do some packet bashing that rivals Cisco routers. Unfortunately these features are largely undocumented.

      Lack of documentation is ofcourse the worst part of Linux. FreeBSD and OpenBSD have lots documentation that is kept up to date. Linux dosen't.

      FreeBSD and OpenBSD are better then any Linux distrobution for servers. These *BSD systems are well thought out and mature products. OpenBSD has a slight edge due to its easier install. On the desktop I think it is a tie. FreeBSD is excellent, but lacks a few of the bells and wistles you will find on a Linux destop. In particular some hardware is better supported under Linux. On the other hand Linux distors suffer from bloat and are not as well thought out as FreeBSD. OpenBSD makes an excellent firewall. Linux makes a good hybrid firewall/router. If I had to choose just one I would install FreeBSD everywhere.

    8. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by prog-guru · · Score: 1

      FreeBSD has an excellent Linux compatibility mode, so most Linux commercial software will run just fine.

      s/most/some/
      s/will/might/
      s/just\ fine//

      It is good (even vmware runs) but not perfect, it is just a compatibility mode after all, a little better than wine.

      --

      chris@xanadu:~$ whatis /.
      /.: nothing appropriate.

    9. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by Arandir · · Score: 2

      Of course it's not perfect. I've found "Linux" programs that won't run under any distro but Redhat...

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    10. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by guacamole · · Score: 2

      Since we have to support hundreds of Linux desktops (redhat), we prefer to use Linux also on the servers, at very least on the ones that do things like NFS and NIS service for the Linux machines. If you -have- to use Linux on the desktops, it might be a good idea to keep Linux on the servers too because of the KISS principle. Your environment will be more simple, less training will be required for newbie staff, etc. We haven't run into major problems with this approach. YMCV of course.

    11. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by lamontg · · Score: 3, Interesting
      More experienced administrators: do you support this kind of dualism?

      I'd support it if the ISVs did.

      I'm 1 of 8 admins that take care of appx 600 Linux boxes (projected to grow to 1,000 Linux boxes by the end of the year). We run software by BEA and Tibco on our machines (and probably other packages I'm not as familiar with, but those are the major two). We're interested in Oracle on top of Linux.

      Unfortunately, there's no ISV support for FreeBSD and while I'd *LOVE* to choose FreeBSD over Linux I can't do it for business reasons. Unfortunately this also leads to choose me to avoid FreeBSD even for ISV-free machines at work. The pool of System Engineers that we've got is more familiar with Linux than FreeBSD, and there's no way to guarantee than an ISV product won't be needed on any given machine in the future.

      And unfortunately when I'm talking about Linux ISV support I'm necessarily talking about RedHat ISV support. I really wish that either SuSE or FreeBSD would be supported by ISVs. RedHat is just flatly the worst Unix distribution in the world. They still insist on release kernels that have VMs which are substantially more fucked up than the vanilla one. Isn't it about time to simply recognize that the only guy in the Linux community who understands how to write a stable VM works for SuSE and move on?

      Unfortunately, what I care about most in a Unix OS is (in order):

      1. ISV support
      2. 12-18 month release cycle
      3. Three supported versions of distro (yes, that means you have to support a distribution for 3-5 years)
      4. Hardware product testing matrix and good QA

      I can get this out of Solaris. The only Linux distribution which comes close to this is RedHat and they really need to work on the third point and don't even come close to the fourth point (Intel hardware makes testing matrices difficult...)

      And I'd like to emphasize how important that third point is. With 1,000 machines and 8 people we can't handle upgrading all those machines every 6-9 months. "Release Early, Release Often" is an open source lie.

      If you're just building basic infrastructure, I'd agree that FreeBSD is the way to go over Linux. The one caveat to that is if you're using heavy SMP machines like 6-way boxes (like we do). Then you need to wait for FreeBSD 5.x for the SMP support (and every indication is that it will cream Linux's SMP support after it gets stabilized).

    12. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by rendler · · Score: 1

      Bloat? What sort of bloat are we talking about here? Last time I looked Sid had 1140 packages available, but that doesn't mean you have to install them all. Also on a fresh install the tarball that contains the base system is about 12MB IIRC.

      --

      *shrug*
    13. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by Bishop · · Score: 2

      A 12MB Debian system is hardly useable.

      As for bloat: exim requires libldap. That is just one example. The Debian config has also become a little top heavy.

      My main Debain complaint is the lack of a good useable default install. Instead Debian is the "linux for everyone." This is an admirable goal, but not very usefull for servers.

      Use OpenBSD for a few months and you will understand

    14. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by rendler · · Score: 1

      Ahh I'll have to agree with that I tried installing a version of WINE a while back which required libusb or something similar. And it seems that almost everytime I come to do a dist-upgrade (usually every 2 months) it requires 5 new packages to be installed to meet dependencies.

      As for the default install I think that it's very good to install just the basic and require people to install the packages they need themselves. Unlike other distros that drop a gig and a half on the drive unless you specifically unselect the packages. IIRC FreeBSD did this as well, during the install I remember a little dialog where I could choose pre-defined sets of packages for a certain task (such as C programming). Debian also has this in tasksel which automatically pops up after the base installation is installed and the machine is rebooted. All my memory on installations are a fuzzy since the last time I've did an OS install was about 2 years ago.

      Also what do you mean by top heavy concerning the config files?

      --

      *shrug*
    15. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by Bishop · · Score: 2

      IIRC FreeBSD did this as well, during the install

      True enough. I just did a FreeBSD install and it was a little different then I remember. I guess most of what I have written only applies to OpenBSD now.

      Also what do you mean by top heavy concerning the config files?

      One of the beauties of OpenBSD is the /etc/rc.conf file. It is a file of sh parameters that are sourced by the rc scripts at boot time. In it you have config options for most of the major services that you would run. For example if I want sendmail to run with "-q30m -bd" (run queue every 30mins, listen on port 25) I set these options in /etc/rc.conf. Contrast this with Debian where I have to edit /etc/init.d/sendmail. If a new version of sendmail comes out then I have to manually compare my version of /etc/init.d/sendmail with the package maintainers. I would rather not do that.

      There are other options in /etc/rc.conf as well. Such as running xdm or not. Instead of one file Debian has a whole lot of other little config files. Such as the stuff in /etc/default.

      While I am thinking about it another irritation I had with Debian was that if I installed a server Debian would insist on running the server. In particular Portmap and NFSD. I wanted these installed on my firewall as sometimes it was convinient to mount some nfs shares. But in general I did not want to run these services. Yet every time they were upgraded dpkg would try to restart them. Very annoying.

      As I stated above I do use Debian on the desktop (as in right now). I don't mind as much that there are some mystery processes running and that the config files are a little harder to manage. I have console access I can tweek things if needed. On a server I want a default install that is ready to go and just works. For those cases I am useing OpenBSD. Ofcourse if I had a dual proc machine I would run Debian/Linux.

    16. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by korpiq · · Score: 2


      Thanks, this was exactly the kind of first-person experience I was hoping to get.

      (* goes off to put together some boxes and start learning *)

      --

      I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
    17. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? by rhadc · · Score: 1

      I've been using FreeBSD 4.5 with XFree86 4.2 and KDE 3.0 and 3.0.1. This combo has worked better as a unix desktop than any other I've worked with. It's more reliable, predictable, and more easily upgradeable than all of the Linux distros I've used.

      It won't surprise me if at some point Linux will lose its popularity momentum to FreeBSD or a derivative.

      rhadc

  14. Re:*BSD is dying by zaren · · Score: 2

    You are correct. Mac OS X is built around Darwin, which is partly based on FreeBSD. See http://developer.apple.com/darwin/ for more details. Darwin is also available for x86-compatible computers, so it's not a Mac-only thing.
    -----
    Darwin is an evolutionary OS...

    --
    Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
  15. Re:It's a titty by alfredo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, BSD is not dead. Try OSX.

    --
    photosMy Photostream
  16. Re:*BSD is dying by alfredo · · Score: 2

    Love it. Got Gnome running along with Aqua. Maybe KDE3 someday soon.

    --
    photosMy Photostream
  17. Re:Mac OS X is not really BSD. by rtaylor · · Score: 2

    What does price or freedom have to do with anything?

    BSDi certainly wasn't free, but it sure was BSD and in some cases was well worth the price.

    Thats like saying, "Thats not bread because it doesn't have a hard brown crust on it". You just haven't been paying attention to the breads which don't brown.

    --
    Rod Taylor
  18. Re:*BSD is dying by UnknownQ · · Score: 1

    Does this mean I can run the MacOS on my x86?

    --
    Wherever you go, there you are!
  19. Lilo... by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you use LILO, you can specify the kernel to reboot by:

    lilo -R
    reboot.

    I have an "exp" config in my LILO, for experimental kernels before I move them off probation. So, when I have done my build and install, I just type
    lilo -R exp && reboot
    and there I go.

    I don't know if Grub has anything similar.

    1. Re:Lilo... by Bishop · · Score: 2

      Switch to grub. It is an advanced boot loader. Grub understands the linux filesystems so it will find your kernel at boot time. Unlike lilo grub dosen't have to be run every time you install a new kernel. Grub has a command line interface so you can easily load any kernel on your hard drive.

      I see no reason to continue to use lilo. Except if you are in a very tight disk space situation such as embeded linux. In these cases every byte countes, and the ~150kB of grub might be a problem.

  20. Re:*BSD IS DYING by Wouter+Van+Hemel · · Score: 1


    There's a release engineering information page: http://www.freebsd.org/releng/index.html

    The information can be update and revised, though. Just to give you an idea.

  21. Re:Been there... by mosch · · Score: 1
    RELENG_4_6, not RELENG_4.

    just because you don't know how it's done, doesn't mean it's not possible.

  22. Re:*BSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It will, however, run Linux software! Here's how:

    # cd /usr/ports/emulators/linux_base
    # make install
    # echo 'linux_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf


    Note that if you choose linux binary compatibility during installation, the above is done for you.

    For some things (vmware) you may need to add linprocfs to /etc/fstab.

    linux_base comes with rpm, et al. Rarely, you may need to copy some shared libraries from a linux box to the the appropriate directories under /usr/compat/linux/

  23. Features? by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is this the version with the Hurd kernel, runs on computers with nanotube transistor technology, and comes with Duke-Nukem Forever bundled?

    Or is that version 5.0?

  24. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? - why not. by Wouter+Van+Hemel · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I like linux, but if I can choose freely, there is nothing I would pick over a *bsd, most likely freebsd.

    There is no linux distribution that is as mature and aimed for servers. Don't even start talking about the bloated linux 'server' editions... A minimal bsd install, the latest versions of the services you really need compiled by hand and optimized, and you're set.

    Mind though: I really don't think there's such a big difference between freebsd and linux, each has its pro's and con's... It really doesn't matter that much. Just use the right tools for the job, it's all opensource anyway.

    And you can build a very minimal Linux distro yourself too, if you want... It's all about freedom, if you want linux on workstations (because that's what most distro's aim at) and freebsd on servers, you do that. And it'll work.

    I wish the 'x is better than y'-people would just shut up and use 'x' in silence. Or contribute, if they really have too much time and energy anyway.

  25. Re:Mac OS X is not really BSD. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's not really free.

    Do you have a point?

    It's a pain in the [...] to add unofficial hardware support.

    And this is different than Windows, The 190+ versions of GNU/Linux, BeOS etc la HOW?

    There are problems with porting of Linux desktop software to Mac OS X. And it's not a multi-platform.

    Talk to the bozos who write non-portable code. Writing code that is linux-only is different than writing code that is windows-only how?

    If your goal it to be no better than Windows, writing non-portable code gets you there. Some people have higher goals in life.

  26. Re: Linux is good enough (but are your admins?) by Wouter+Van+Hemel · · Score: 1

    After considering it we stick with Linux: Linux firewalls, Linux servers for DB, CVS, email and web, Linux on desktops with OpenOffice, Gimp and NetBeans. Why would we need BSD?


    Well. If you run the same distribution of linux everywhere, you're gonna be seriously screwed if there's some security problem / stability problem / whatever ... with it.

    If you _don't_ run the same distro everywhere, your argument about 'zoo' and 'mix of different systems' doesn't really matter, because different linux distro's can be as different as some linux distro's and *bsd. Compare slackware with freebsd, for instance. If your admins need training to work with your linux systems, they'll need it for every other distribution just as for bsd, so you save nothing.

    And having different systems and people who _understand_ them is much more beneficial to your company in many ways, than cheap click-monkey admins who need gui's.
  27. Re:FreeBSD sucks by Leimy · · Score: 2

    So why did you read the article... why did you bother to comment? Everything you wrote smells of asshole.

  28. Bad day bad day! by AndroidCat · · Score: 2
    Well I certainly picked the wrong day to install FreeBSD! The FTP site was jammed, so I surfed over to Slashdot and .. D'OH! New release ..

    And I was looking forward to adding a 486/66 to my RC5 efforts! :^) (Hey, I need something to plug all my old ISA cards into.)

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  29. Not trying to start a Holy War by ellem · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    But is it possible to "upgrade" from 4.4 to OpenBSD?

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
    1. Re:Not trying to start a Holy War by rplacd · · Score: 1

      yeah...as long as it's a single-processor server.

    2. Re:Not trying to start a Holy War by RiC!N · · Score: 1
      Yep that's true. But I've still put FreeBSD (4.x) on the server I'm setting up. SMP at least works, in the sense that it will devide processes over processors (I only have 2 procs BTW), but it's not grannual yet in the sense that it subdivides that into, say, threads.

      5.0 (currently the unstable tree) will have much better SMP support. But at least for now I can use my 2nd processor all the way. It's just that the extra performance gain that is possible by having 2 or more processors with a fine-grained management isn't there just yet in -stable.

      I tend to see this as something to be made better rather than as something that decreases performance though.

  30. KDE by archen · · Score: 1

    I'm assuming this comes with KDE3. Has anyone messed with installing the liquid theme on FreeBSD? I recall I gave it a half hearted attempt one day but something didn't work, and I got sidetracked and never bothered again.

    And looking at the changelog I see they updated ls. How many decades has this been around and we're still messing with ls? The change seems to be rather handy though...

    1. Re:KDE by jonbelson · · Score: 1

      >Has anyone messed with installing the liquid
      >theme on FreeBSD? I recall I gave it a half
      >hearted attempt one day but something didn't
      >work, and I got sidetracked and never bothered
      >again.

      cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/mosfet-liquid
      make install clean

      Wasn't too hard.

      --Jon
      http://www.witchspace.com

  31. Re:*BSD is dying by zaffir · · Score: 1

    No. You can run Darwin, the "core" of OS X on your x86, but the Aqua interface, and really anything other than Darwin in OS X, is PPC only.

    --
    "Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
  32. Re:*BSD is dying by larry+bagina · · Score: 3, Funny
    Love it. Got Gnome running along with Aqua. Maybe KDE3 someday soon.

    Me too! Then I replaced the leather seats in my bmw with naugahyde.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  33. Re:Off-topic (well, sort of) — The BSD Daemo by Selmo · · Score: 1
    CP63 looks like Rosie O'Donnell or Roseanne Barr! LOL

    I like the one the AntiOffline crew made.

  34. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? - why not. by juraj · · Score: 1
    I agree -- do what you're comfortable with. If you have to use Linux on server and are comfortable with BSD, try Slackware.


    Anyways, Debian is great on servers. Don't take me wrong, I'm a consultant/administrator for many companies and I admin various Linuxes (Debian, Slack, Mandrake, even RedHat) and various BSDs and even Solaris. I don't see a great difference here. There are differences however. *BSD and Debian-stable are very very very stable. If you need raw computing power and have multiprocessor system, don't use BSD.


    But I'm not such liberal on desktop. I bought IBM Thinkpad and installed FreeBSD 4.5. It just sucked completely. No national keyboard support because of old XFree (this is gone in 4.6), very bad support for hardware (Linmodem, soundcard). IBM has great support for Linux and I'm happy with Debian here yet. BSD just is not for desktop (yet).

  35. Re:FreeBSD sucks by rplacd · · Score: 1

    FreeBSD is not stable. This is a legend. My company has a bunch of FreeBSD web servers, and they are crashing like hell.
    Remove the keyboard, plug it in again, and it doesn't work any more, wow.


    hardware issue. btw, i've seen this done a lot of times at one workplace on freebsd boxes -- no problems.


    And no, FreeBSD isn't fast. The filesystem is damn slow, and unreliable, even with softupdates. And don't expect to have a
    lot of files in the same directory, you would hurt it.


    i hope that speed problem isn't the same old 'linux mounts filesystems async' issue. that's been beaten to death. and freebsd 4.6 has no problems with large numbers of files in a directory.

  36. figures by BreakWindows · · Score: 2

    I just installed 5.0 yesterday. Sigh.

  37. IF my ISP by LennyDotCom · · Score: 3, Funny

    If my ISP charged by the MB for downloads I would be pissed that I downloaded 4.5 yesterday

    --
    http://Lenny.com
    1. Re:IF my ISP by greygent · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Probably not as pissed as the FreeBSD folks would be because you're wasting their precious bandwidth by downloading successive ISO images, instead of learning how to use CVSUP, or buying CD's.

  38. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? - why not. by BrookHarty · · Score: 2

    Good point. I use linux for my workstation and home servers. But when I ran an ISP, I used freebsd for my servers. I needed the stable uptime my bsd servers gave me. This was a few years ago, when linux was young. I have noticed my ISP and web hosting company both use linux. (Speakeasy and Bestwebhosting). They both have great uptimes with large loads. But all my friends who run ISPs still use freebsd or solaris.

    Need to look past the FUD about any OS, and try it, make up your own mind.

    The only problem I have with Bsd is broken ports, but I read on Openbsds site, they are going to do a full ports audit this year.

    Not a BSD problem, but Nvidia only releases linux drivers, which are much faster than the stock bsd/linux drivers.

  39. Re:My experiences with Windows XP Professional by bogie · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    "Needless to say, I had our quad Xeons back running OpenBSD by the end of the week. Gerbil is back on its way to another glorious 3 years of uptime"

    You mean the OpenBSD that doesn't do SMP yet??

    Is this a cut and paste? Because I think I remember a story similar to this where again someone madeup a bunch of crap, and then stupidly said OpenBSd was running on their big SMP boxes.

    And yes I am aware of the side project to try to bring smp to openbsd but that barely complies.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  40. Re:*BSD is dying by bogie · · Score: 1

    LMAO

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  41. Re:warning: corrupt ISOs --[FIX]-- by sar · · Score: 2, Informative

    I had the same problem, even burned 4 copies of disc1 from a couple different mirrors, and I saw a suggestion from a while back about how to fix it. The fix involved adding a line to /boot/loader.conf, which is kinda hard to do on a cd boot. So, I tried the next step, setting the variable at boot time, and it worked.

    At the bootloader prompt (Hit enter to continue or any other key for prompt), type:

    set hw.ata.atapi_dma=1
    boot

    and it should install fine. Also, once installed and booted to it, before you try to read from a cd, add the line without 'set' to the /boot/loader.conf and all will be well. This is just a workaround, I think its something to do w/ the ata driver and some cdroms, but I could be wrong. All I know is it works, and others have had success w/ that fix.

    btw, do you have a AOpen 52x also?

    --
    .
  42. Re:FreeBSD sucks by pumpkin2146 · · Score: 1

    If you mean the keyboard doesn't work anymore, then yes. This is a known thing.

    If you want the keyboard (ps2) to work after pulling it out and plugging it in again, compile your kernel with the option

    device atkbd0 at atkbdc? irq 1

    (which in the GENERIC kernel has an extra option flags 0x1, which shouldn't be present).

  43. Re:Off-topic (well, sort of) — The BSD Daemo by Selmo · · Score: 1

    ...and then there's Daemon News' Dixie

  44. hu, I didn't know there was a sever version of XP by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    This is just another odd inconsistency in this guys posting. Unless of course the server only servers less then 10 clients at a time. :-)

  45. I wonder what happened to FreeBSD 5.0 by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    I am planning to buy an smp system sometime this summer. I am eagerly awaiting FreeBSD 5 because of much better smp, Java, as well as some beta .net support that Microsoft is porting. I got into *bsd after I needed to install nat and linux looked just horrible and cryptic in regards to setting IP rules. Openbsd and Freebsd are so much easy to administer in regards to this and much more secure by default when you install them. RedHat is a joke. Anyway I heard FreeBSD 5 was suppose to come out last January so I have been waiting to buy my new system. My isp is putting a 3 gig transfer cap later this summer so I need it before August. After that I will switch to dial up. I believe 3 gig is maybe a 3 to 4 hour download at the most for a dam whole month! Boy, I hope they finish soon so I do not have to spend a lot of money buying the cd's.

    1. Re:I wonder what happened to FreeBSD 5.0 by pancrace · · Score: 2, Informative

      Coming in November. Look at the release schedule.

      --
      I don't have a .sig
    2. Re:I wonder what happened to FreeBSD 5.0 by elbuddha · · Score: 1



      Boy, I hope they finish soon so I do not have to spend a lot of money buying the cd's.

      FreeBSD 5.0 will most likely be out late November or early December, at which point the 4-cd set will most likely cost $39.95 from freebsdmall.com, $39.50 from bsdmall.com.

      Downloading the installation cd, which is all you really need, is (obviously) less than 650M. But buying the cd's helps the FreeBSD project, and really isn't that expensive.

    3. Re:I wonder what happened to FreeBSD 5.0 by SteelX · · Score: 2

      But buying the cd's helps the FreeBSD project, and really isn't that expensive.

      That depends on where you come from. Of course, $39.95 isn't that expensive in North America, but in many other places in the world, $39.95 is a huge deal. For example, where I come from, $39.95 would be more than $150 in local currency.

  46. Re:Been there... by Leimy · · Score: 2

    time machine then?... Like i said... I got stable yesterday from CVSup and it wasn't 4.6 RELEASE... it still said RC #0. Unless you know some source tree I don't and did things in a non-standard way then you didn't have 4.6 RELEASE.

  47. Re:*BSD is dying by sinuhe · · Score: 1

    MacOSX is based on Next/OpenStep. NextStep is based on Mach, and Mach was taken from BSD 4.3.

    The current Darwin/MacOSX uses a FreeBSD user land (maintaining compatiblity), some NetBSD innovations, and the Mach kernel. (If we use the logic of RMS, would Darwin be more accurately called FreeBSD/Mach--or for MacOSX, OpenStep-FreeBSD/Mach?)

    Darwin is as much a BSD as is, say, Solaris...

  48. Re:Been there... by RiC!N · · Score: 1
    Again: RELENG_4_6, the security branch has been open for over a week.

    On a releng_4_6 box:
    # uname -a
    FreeBSD gateway.home.ricin.net 4.6-RELEASE FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE #0:

    On another box at -stable:
    workstation# uname -a
    FreeBSD workstation.home.ricin.net 4.6-RC FreeBSD 4.6-RC #0

    It's only logical that the sec. branch of 4.6 would start with the release "patchlevel 0" :)

  49. Mach? by swankypimp · · Score: 1

    Could someone please explain the precise relationship between BSD and Darwin/MacOS X? I was at a job interview a few weeks back (tech support for a local college), and was asked what I knew about MacOS X. I told the guy that I hadn't used it yet, but that I understood it was BSD-based. He told me I was wrong, that it was Mach-based but ran BSD binaries. A quick visit to the Apple website indicates that it is a Mach kernel (held over from Apple aquiring NEXT) but also says it's a modified BSD 4.3. Could someone explain this? I assume this means that it includes all the utilities of BSD, but has a non-BSD kernel? IANAUG (I Am Not A UNIX Guru) and only have user experience with Solaris, and have hacked around with Linux and FreeBSD on my own machines, so maybe I'm missing something obvious here.

    --

    --All your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson
    1. Re:Mach? by RiC!N · · Score: 1

      Mach kernel, BSD userland... but the guy was a nitpicker (sp?) anyway. Probably reads /. hehe

    2. Re:Mach? by Drishmung · · Score: 2, Informative
      Did you find this link? It gives a good overview of what is going on from a Unix perspective. Some useful quotes:
      Part of the history of Mac OS X goes back to Berkeley Software Distributions (BSD) UNIX of the early seventies. Specifically, it is based in part on BSD 4.4 Lite. On a system level, many of the design decisions are made to align with BSD-style UNIX systems. Many of the libraries are derived from NetBSD (http://www.netbsd.org/), while many of the utilities are from FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org/). For future development, Mac OS X has adopted FreeBSD as a reference code base for BSD technology. Work is ongoing to more closely synchronize all BSD tools and libraries with the FreeBSD-stable branch.
      Although Mac OS X must credit BSD for most of the underlying levels of the operating system, Mac OS X also owes a major debt to Mach. The kernel is heavily influenced in its design philosophy by Carnegie Mellon's Mach project. The kernel is not a pure microkernel implementation though since the address space is shared with BSD processes.

      The Mac OS X kernel (also known as XNU) is a monolithic kernel (unlike Mach, but like Linux and xBSD) with Mach and BSD sitting side-by-side.

      Mach handles memory management, IPC and device drivers. BSD handles users and permissions, the network stack, the virtual file system and POSIX.

      Once outside the kernel it's much more BSD like, with a large dollop of NeXT-isms thrown in. Most of the CLI and utilities are BSD like. Mac OS X tends to use OpenBSD for networking. (As an aside, Mac OS 8-9's OpenTransport is streams based, like Solaris. In fact, written by Mentat who wrote the NetWare and Solaris stacks too).

      The chief gotcha may be that Mach handles I/O. The BSD /dev tree is there, but putting devices into the tree is done dynamically by Mach. In other words, you can't make use of any BSD device drivers.

      --
      Protoplasm. Quiet Protoplasm. I like quiet protoplasm.
  50. Re:software for BSD by RiC!N · · Score: 1
    As the person before me said, many linux apps just run straight away through the linux compat layer. The other week I downloaded the new RealOne player (aka realplayer9) linux version (tagged as alpha), just installed it in its own directory under /usr/local and what-da-you-know.. it just worked.

    Linux compat is basically a set of RedHat rpms, and some layer over the BSD kernel that makes it able to talk with apps that expect a linux kernel. We had linux-6.1 and now we have 7.1. This refers to the RH version numbers.

  51. Re:warning: corrupt ISOs by RiC!N · · Score: 1
    Yesterday I read an online piece somewhere (sorry no URL), that mentioned that Murray was at some conference (delay reason #1) and that one of the ISOs apparently was b0rked thus there had to be an update along the mirrors (delay reason #2). This would have caused the last 1-2 days of extra delay. Though frankly, it may also have been hearsay.

    Before that and after the 4.6-REL tagging took place it was a matter of compiling packages, putting ISOs together, etc. This part is all normal practice AFAIK and it's not unusual if it takes a week longer or so than anticipated.

  52. Heh by RiC!N · · Score: 1

    Well, there's surely going to be some 4.7 vs 5.0 vs 4.8 confusion by then to add some spice to it :)

    1. Re:Heh by essdodson · · Score: 1

      Even without confusion I'm sure they'll manage to screw it up again. I wonder why the release announcement was delayed so long after images were available on FTP? (two days?) Maybe someone trying to send slashdot the message.

      --
      scott
    2. Re:Heh by RiC!N · · Score: 1

      yeah by pigeon :) Luckily it was at close range or we'd been here for weeks...

  53. Re:Not a zoo. Linux is good enough by tigga · · Score: 1
    Well, I believe (and some experience helped) that FreeBSD is preferable on servers.
    More stable, more upgradable, less bloted, cleaner designed.

    So your consideration may include your company's model - what's your production site?
    If all your business all around your website like Google, for example, I'd choose FreeBSD.
    If your company's business does not require much web presence or does not have many servers
    (like number crunching) - you need only some IT stuff, just stick to what your developers use - if they use the same OS.

  54. Re:Not a zoo. Linux is good enough by RiC!N · · Score: 1
    You are *absolutely* right. But the same argument could be made vice versa... I know and like BSD, I can do the same as with Linux... so why would I need Linux. Both are OK. I switched Debian -> fBSD mostly out of emotional reasons (Specifically: the KDE packages maintainer being yelled at by lazy nogoods for not being fast enough in providing packages while it even was a non-official side project. That really disgusted me.)

    And, possibly because I was still newbie enough to get into something new, I happened to like the somewhat hardcore but very straightforward and consistant way of configuring a BSD system.

    I think I could have landed at Slack just as easily though.

  55. Re:*BSD is dying by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 1

    (If we use the logic of RMS, would Darwin be more accurately called FreeBSD/Mach--or for MacOSX, OpenStep-FreeBSD/Mach?)


    Wouldn't it just be GNU/MacOSX?

    --

    Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

  56. I've tried FreeBSD. Enough. by axxackall · · Score: 1
    After years of experience with Slackware and RedHat, I've been convinced by my friends to try FreeBSD and to try BSD ports. The result did no meet my expectations. Everything related to Java did not work without intensive handwork. In fact, I've been hacking more than I've done it in Linux.

    Well, I use RPMs only upto the point I've finished OS installation. After that point - I use only tarballs. Source, if possible, or binary, if no source code (i.e. Java). ./configure --[option] - that's the tool you cannot compensate neither in BSD ports nor in RPMs.

    It doesn't mean I dislike BSD ports. It means that the worth of Linux benefits (better hardware and software support) is greater than the small benefits of BSD ports.

    Conclusion: if you are a real sysadmin, smart and not lazy, Linux is your right choice.

    --

    Less is more !
  57. Silly trolls by RiC!N · · Score: 1

    Where's that anti-troll I saw the other week? It had the *BSD is dying text with suitable wordwrap and then altered to show the silhouet of Beastie in the text. It was.. well.. refreshing.

  58. Re:Been there... by Leimy · · Score: 2

    Ok... i am just stating the fact that *after* the announcement I have in /usr/src/UPDATING the fact that it was 4.6. not before. I also got some additional code updated but it was for some part of the kernel I wasn't concerned with [PCCARD or something]. It may have been *very close* to RELEASE but I still have doubts that its exactly the same :).

    At least we aren't fighting over BSD dying :).

  59. Re:It's a titty by uncoveror · · Score: 1

    Not only is Mac OSX a BSD version, the next Windows will be BSD.
    http://www.uncoveror.com/windowsbsd.htm

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  60. Re:*BSD is dying by jcast · · Score: 1

    Only if you base it around GNU, nitwit.

    --
    There are reasons why democracy does not work nearly as well as capitalism.
    -- David D. Friedman
  61. Re:prove it by Joe+Kellner · · Score: 1

    Last time I checked, supporting flat bed scanners and firewire wasnt anywhere in FreeBSD's target group of users.

  62. Re:DUE? WHEN YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU'RE A HOMO by Joe+Kellner · · Score: 1

    I guess thats why MacOS X is so unpopular with mac users, right? and Mach is just so fucking popular.

  63. Help... by ellem · · Score: 1

    then cd /usr/src
    make buildworld
    make buildkernel
    make installkernel
    reboot
    make installworld

    I keep getting ERROR: Required smmsp user is missing, see /usr/src/UPDATING.

    *** Error code 1


    for make installworld.... help

    mergemaster

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
    1. Re:Help... by Lawrence+Ho · · Score: 1

      You should read 19.4.3 in the FreeBSD Handbook.

    2. Re:Help... by ellem · · Score: 1

      mergemaster -p

      defiler of my master.passwd file.

      so angry... must control fist of rage....

      --
      This .sig is fake but accurate.
  64. Re:Linux for desktop, *BSD for servers? - Nope by inquisitor · · Score: 1

    You obviously haven't actually used FreeBSD then... USB is supported in the generic kernel, along with 802.11b, Gigabit Ethernet and SCSI RAID. There's no need for a journaling filesystem due to softupdates, you don't need end user books when you have the Handbook and helpful user support, and...

    /usr/ports/graphics/sane-backends
    /usr/ports/graphics/sane-frontends
    /usr/ports/emulators/wine
    /usr/ports/java/*


    all seem to be in there last time I cvsupped, and many times before that. It's mostly all current versions too. Oh, and KDE 3.0.1 and GNOME2 beta both sit happily in the ports tree. Admittedly 1394 isn't in there, but by current standards it will be soon. I'm running 4.6.

  65. Re:*BSD is dying by sinuhe · · Score: 1

    What GNU software is there with the FreeBSD userland? I think you missed the rational.

  66. bsd is dying by borislav.nikolov · · Score: 1

    i want to way something to the people swearing that *bsd is dying
    i've copy pasted this article from march 25
    it is a reply about the 7000th port in freebsd's port system. you can read it after.
    after luigi rizzo inplemented the polling code in freebsd kernel freebsd is one of the fastest NOS (network operating system).
    freebsd is never going to dye.
    gees, yahoo use freebsd
    in 1994 it started with p133mhz freebsd and 'yahoo.com' and now it is a giant.
    ipfw with dummynet is more human than any ipchains/iptables/ipfwadm + cbq for linux
    altq and fair queueing are implemented in the kernel and works with no problem.
    the new ipfw tehnology (writen by luigi rizzo) will rule the world. it have ethernet filters, and many features (like tos matching).
    it operates GREAT with 802.1q (vlans) and bridgeing even vlan bridgeing (available with mihail balikov's patch).
    who told you that *bsd will die?
    it will never DIE! untill the freebsd team goes for money. but i am happy because some company offered to sponsor the freebsd team to rewrite the tcp api but they refused because 10 more years NO money will be used to write freebsd code.

    IT IS ALIVE.


    It is official - Netcraft confirms: *BSD is dying
    One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last [samag.com] in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

    You don't need to be a Kreskin [amdest.com] to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

    FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.

    Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

    OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

    Fact: *BSD is dying



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