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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!munnari.OZ.AU!uunet!in1.uu.net!199.60.229.3!newsfeed.direct.ca!nntp.portal.ca!cynic.portal.ca!not-for-mail From: cjs@cynic.portal.ca (Curt Sampson) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs BSD Date: 23 Jan 1997 19:04:53 -0800 Organization: Internet Portal Services, Inc. Lines: 56 Message-ID: <5c98sl$gbn@cynic.portal.ca> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <5c39sk$ddl@troma.rv.tis.com> <5c8jlm$50u@cynic.portal.ca> <5c9444$9vq@lace.colorado.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cynic.portal.ca Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:154034 comp.os.linux.networking:66053 comp.os.linux.setup:93728 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:5721 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2013 In article <5c9444$9vq@lace.colorado.edu>, Ben Cantrick (alias Macky Stingray) <cantrick@rintintin.Colorado.EDU> wrote: >>2. Binary-focus vs. source-focus. Linux is focused on people who >>prefer to avoid compilers if at all possible. > > I dunno what kind of Linux users you know, but I personally compiled >my kernel, gcc, X, and several of my libraries from source. I think you've >been afflicted by the abundance of RedHat users, some of whom, in my >biased opinion, ARE afraid of their compilers. Note that I didn't say Linux doesn't have support (albeit not what I consider very good support) for compiling stuff yourself. I'm just saying it's not focused on that. This shows to me in that I have still to find a userland source tree for Linux. The arrangement seems to be that you drop your various programs into various directories, cd to each one in turn, and type `make'. On BSD systems, all the `standard' userland sources are under /usr/src. You can drop into that directory and type `make build' or `make world' or whatever your flavour of BSD uses and rebuild your entire system from scratch. If you set DESTDIR somewhere other than root, you can build a newer system (with different libraries and include files for example) in DESTDIR, and it will use those new libraries and include files for the build, not the production ones on your system. It's got an object directory system so that you can be building your i386 system in /usr/obj.i386, your alpha system in/usr/obj.alpha, and your sparc system in /usr/obj.sparc. It will deal with including appropriate programs (such as edlabel, used to edit SunOS disk labels on the Sun 3 and Sparc) in some builds, but not others. And of course, you are probably working from a CVS checkout, not from a pile of sources. The complete CVS tree for FreeBSD, for example, is available for download, so you can go through any file you want and find out what changes were made, and when, and why, and who made them. (The FreeBSD folks also have a very nice web interface for doing this.) This is invaluable for educational purposes, not to mention just finding out if and how certain bugs were fixed. > I guess I'd say this same thing another way. I'd say that BSD comes >with a bunch of stuff out of the box that, if you want it for Linux, you >have to FTP it and compile it yourself. Hm. I would have said it's the other way around. Most Linux systems seem to come with things like perl pre-installed, whereas you have to grab it and compile it for NetBSD. cjs -- Curt Sampson cjs@portal.ca Info at http://www.portal.ca/ Internet Portal Services, Inc. Vancouver, BC (604) 257-9400 De gustibus, aut bene aut nihil.