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OSS Unix: Dividing & Conquering Itself

Posted by Hemos on from the avoiding-the-monoculture dept.

(Score.5, Interestin writes "Security guru Marcus Ranum has some interesting thoughts about how a continuing lack of consistency among Unix systems (and particularly Linux) is hurting Linux (and remaining commercial Unix vendors like Sun) and helping Microsoft. Admittedly this has been said before, but no-one else quite manages to phrase things the way Marcus can."

2 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Congratulations... by sczimme · · Score: 4, Informative

    standardize your damn directory structures and startup scripts. Or at least come up with some sort of virtual linking scheme to provide one consistant view. "Well, *BSD puts it here, but on Linux it would be there and SYS 5 doesn't have one..."

    You have managed to complain about characteristics (in bold above) that make each flavor unique; you should have grumbled about device naming conventions, too, and gone for the trifecta. You may as well complain about the variations in fruit: "well, the banana has a peel that must be removed prior to consumption, while grapes come in bunches, and don't get me started on pomegranates, etc."

    The BSDs are generally do things in a similar manner. This is largely historical; it is the BSD Way(tm).

    One really shouldn't just say "SYS 5". Not only is the nomenclature wrong - it should be SVR* - one should indicate which revision is under discussion, e.g. SVR3 or SVR4.

    News flash: Linux is very much like SVR4. You can do some things (e.g. ps) in BSD style if you like but most practical purposes Linux is ~SVR4.

    Solaris >=2 is SVR4-based, as is HP-UX. AIX (IIRC) is SVR3, but AIX administration is (or at least was) its own form of pain so the historical influence is basically a footnote.

    --
    I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
  2. Filesystem Hierarchy Standard by dwheeler · · Score: 4, Informative
    The directory structure standard was developed a long time ago - see the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). Most major distributions have moved towards it, at least in part. FHS is part of the Linux Standard Base specification, which is in progress to become an ISO standard.

    In short, the directory structures are being taken care of.

    --
    - David A. Wheeler (see my Secure Programming HOWTO)