Re: [PLUG] PLUG West - "systemd: The Anti-BusyBox" by Rich Freeman

[JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org>]

On 02/18/2015 04:58 PM, Walt Mankowski wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 04:45:05PM -0500, Morgan Jones wrote:
>>
>> I was similarly surprised at how rudimentary PC-BSD was when I tried
>> it a few years ago.  I’ve used FreeBSD mostly as a ZFS backed afp
>> server for several years and Linux could stand to learn a few things
>> about consistency and unity from FreeBSD.  Whenever I work on my
>> FreeBSD machine I am relieved by the consistent, unified
>> documentation and polite, low drama user community.  My work is
>> pretty much all Linux but I’d use more FreeBSD if I were in a
>> position to do so.  I have my gripes about how they do
>> updates/patching and there are a few BSD-isms that confuse me
>> (probably in part out of ignorance) so it’s not all roses but it’s
>> definitely something I’d encourage anyone interested in ZFS or Linux
>> alternatives to look into.
> 
> I'll second Rich in encouraging people to learn and try out different
> Unixes.  I've never used BSD-based distros much (except on Macs, where
> it's pretty hidden) but I know many people who love them.
> 
> Having said that, I'd caution anyone who's thinking about switching to
> PC-BSD because of systemd concerns that switching to a completely
> different flavor of Unix from Linux is likely to be a far greater
> disruption than adapting to the systemd way of doing things.  I'm not
> saying that it's not worth it.  Just keep in mind that there will be a
> learning curve either way.

I agree with Greg that every time I play with a GUI BSD, it feels like
Linux -10 years.  I agree with Morgan that BSD is an actual coherent and
consistent operating system, while GNU Linux is just what it says, a
bunch of GNU (and many other) tools around a kernel.  We could debate
the pros and cons of each approach, though I personally love Linux but
slightly envy BSD consistency and history.

Which brings me to my point, which complement's Walt's.  Go out and get
a copy of _Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition_
or any other book by Michael W. Lucas.  I've talked about this one
before in the list, but it's just awesome, and will explain not just how
but *why* a lot of stuff works that way (even in Linux).

Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
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