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From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc
Subject: Re: How do NetBSD and FreeBSD differ?
Date: 18 Jun 1996 01:19:45 -0400
Organization: Panix
Lines: 80
Message-ID: <4q5e9h$n8f@panix2.panix.com>
References: <4pvg1u$3aj@news.umbc.edu> <4q2kma$qru@voodoo.pdx.oneworld.com> <4q30j4$7gf@panix2.panix.com> <DERAADT.96Jun17075930@zeus.theos.com>
Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: panix2.panix.com
In article <DERAADT.96Jun17075930@zeus.theos.com>,
Theo de Raadt <deraadt@theos.com> wrote:
>In article <4q2kma$qru@voodoo.pdx.oneworld.com> downsj@threadway.teeny.org
>(Jason Downs) writes:
> Of course, there's also OpenBSD, which is not only multi-platform (with
> different architectures and better support on others), but also supports
> things like the FreeBSD package system. OpenBSD is not only superiour
> technology to both of the other systems, but also easier to use by regular
> people, and easier to do development with then NetBSD.
>
>In article <4q30j4$7gf@panix2.panix.com> tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
>replied (but I see someone has cancelled his article already, oh well, I will
>reply to it anyways):
>
> Of course, some people are of the general opinion that OpenBSD is the freak
> product of a ridiculous pissing fight between various people in the NetBSD
> camp on the one hand and Theo DeRaadt on the other, and that aside from the
> issue of who's in control there really isn't enough difference to pay a whole
> lot of attention to. I mean, the whole thing came to life as
> "s/NetBSD/OpenBSD/g" writ large...
>
>
>Using your notation, I'm sure a lot of people recall "s/386BSD/NetBSD/g" ?
Sure.
>I remember when you phoned me and got me out of bed, begging me not to
>start OpenBSD; you asked me to hold off for a few more days while you
>talked to Charles in person. You said you understood my position, you
>said the whole affair made you sad. That was also the first time I
>found out you and another NetBSD fellow were going to produce a NetBSD
>CD. Actually, I don't think I ever heard back from you.
I don't recall that I was begging, but perhaps I came across that way. That
was a perhaps misdirected attempt to get people to actually *speak* to one
another rather than tearing each others' heads off by email. Ultimately I
realized that, well, a lot of the people involved were unlikely to get along
any better whether they were talking to each other or not. I gave up meddling
in something that was probably never any of my business in the first place. I
don't think that I never got back to you, though; we talked about it at Usenix
for almost an hour one night, remember?
I still think the whole mess is a tremendous shame. It _does_ make me sad.
I know you'll disagree, but I don't think that schism is good for most any
project, ever.
>That was you, right? How'd that CD go, anyways?
Yeah, that was me. CD went lousy. Real Job interceded. We lost focus. Life
is like that.
>Anyways.
>
>Actually, OpenBSD is quite a bit different from NetBSD.
>
>Anyone can see that if they check the pages at http://www.OpenBSD.org,
>read the general mailing lists, and *in particular* peek at the
>source-changes mailing list to see what kind of work is being done.
>
>I presume you have done all the above, right? -- that you are
>qualified to make an accurate statement when you imply nothing much
>has happened except a name change and `leadership'?
I didn't really mean to imply that. I meant to indicate -- and didn't do a
terribly good job of it -- that there was far, far less difference, it seemed
to me, between NetBSD and OpenBSD than between NetBSD and FreeBSD, since the
original post was asking about the difference between NetBSD and FreeBSD.
I apologize for coming across as so confrontational; again, that's why I
cancelled the post upon rereading it and deciding that it had ended up looking
like, frankly, a rude, un-called-for, childish swipe. That wasn't how it was
intended.
I've removed the rest of your excellent article below, but I suggest that
anyone who's missed it should back up in the thread and read it.
--
Thor Lancelot Simon tls@panix.COM
"Gee, if your knee jerks any harder you're going to kick yourself in the head."
-- Barry Sherman