FreeBSD In Q2-2022: More Than 30k Ports, Driver Improvements, Better Linux Compatibility

[sha256sum]

Have they recovered from Buffer overruns, license violations, and bad code: FreeBSD 13’s close call?

[vermaden]

Why don't they just move to Linux instead?

For features and simplicity that is not possible with Linux.

Some of that is described here:

- https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2020/...quare-freebsd/

[MartinN]

I've been using Linux in one way or another since '99... always been slightly jealous of the fact all FreeBSD development goes toward a single distro.... instead of 50+ irrelevant and less than a handful relevant Linux distros.

[brad0]

Why don't they just move to Linux instead?

Why don't Linux users just go and use Windows?

[Alexmitter]

Who, devs? They know their code base and have well deserved positions in the project. Where would they fit in Linux after such switch? It would be downgrade for them.

Everything would be a upgrade above the BSD kernel and userland.

[Alexmitter]

For features and simplicity that is not possible with Linux.

Some of that is described here:

- https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2020/...quare-freebsd/

Everything mentioned here is a downgrade of the equivalent feature in Linux.

And I would not call it simplicity and then refer to a website listing this disgusting relic of a init system as a feature.

[Alexmitter]

I've been using Linux in one way or another since '99... always been slightly jealous of the fact all FreeBSD development goes toward a single distro.... instead of 50+ irrelevant and less than a handful relevant Linux distros.

There is simply no interest to mix the BSD kernel and userland with competing package managers, there are simply not enough people who want to run ancient technology on their PC.

If you want what the "FreeBSD" distro is offering, 95% of it is developed in the Linux Kernel and GNU Coreutils projects.

[rleigh]

at least on Debian when a package doesn't have a maintainer anymore is removed

Are you so sure about that? I've not been a Debian developer for nearly a decade and requests for my packages to be removed, despite being unmaintained both upstream and in Debian for over a decade, have gone unheeded.

Even in Debian, there is a huge amount of "almost abandoned" packages which are technically "owned" but not actually "maintained" in any realistic sense. I'd argue that the bar for removal is still way too low--the amount of abandonware in the archive is very high. The FreeBSD ports isn't really in much of a different situation. However, because the ports are collectively maintained in a single repository, it's way easier for ongoing maintenance to prevent bitrot--everything is continually rebuilt via a proper CI workflow. That is not true of Debian, where packages are still maintained in isolation and built on an individual (but automated) basis.

[Alexmitter]

Most FreeBSD (Unix) usage is corporate - for example, Netflix uses it.

Sure Netflix uses it, not because it is better though but simply because they do not want to share code back. Which they don't, which is not a win for FreeBSD either.

It predates Linux by about a decade, and it's firmly entrenched.

FreeBSD was founded 1993, Linux was founded 1991. You could argue that the Berkley Software Distribution is older, it sure is, but its not FreeBSD. The first time the Berkley Software Distribution was 100% free of "Unix" code was around 1995.

[Volta]

Everything would be a upgrade above the BSD kernel and userland.

That's true, except ex-freeBSD developers positions.