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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:30756 comp.os.386bsd.questions:941 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!usenet.coe.montana.edu!news.u.washington.edu!serval!hlu From: hlu@eecs.wsu.edu (HJ Lu) Subject: Re: 386bsd, linux: which runs more out of the box? Message-ID: <1993Mar23.052609.11978@serval.net.wsu.edu> Sender: news@serval.net.wsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: School of EECS, Washington State University References: <C4BowL.DK3@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 05:26:09 GMT Lines: 41 In article <C4BowL.DK3@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, wgsteven@mobius08.math.uwaterloo.ca (Warren Stevens) writes: |> Well, here's a twist on the old "which one's better" question: |> |> I'm thinking of installing Linux and/or 386bsd, and i have some pretty |> bizzare tastes in software i will want to run -- definately not your |> run-of-the-mill type stuff. Which system will give me the least |> hassle when i try and compile the source code? Which one will i spend |> the least amount of time porting software? |> |> Most of the software is developed for Suns, usually. Things that are |> readily ftp'able from public sites, just stuff that you might not see |> every day. |> We have tried very hard to make porting to Linux easy. The Linux C library is ANSI/POSIX compliant. Unless the software is developed for 386BSD or something like that, porting to Linux should be easier. Also the floating point part of Linux C library should be less buggy. But there are a few exceptions: 1. signal in Linux is POSIX. You can do everything with POSIX except for sigvector. Sun also supports POSIX signal. 2. tty in Linux is POSIX. Sun also supports POSIX tty. 3. time functions are POSIX, plus a few BSD and SYSV extensions. 4. setjmp/longjmp functions are POSIX. But you can use -D__FAVOR_BSD to make it BSD or use sigsigjmp/siglongjmp. From my experiences, 95% of codes from public sites should be compiled right out of box, at most with a few warning if those codes are not ANSI/POSIX ready. You can try to compile one of your favorite packages. |> Can anyone give me a hand? |> |> Thanks, Warren |> -- |> "An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to New |> Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they have Tide but not new |> Tide with lemon-fresh Borax." -- David Letterman H.J.