I'm using FreeBSD on my servers non stop for 20 years. It has some quirks, but it's rock solid.
> "but [FreeBSD's] rock solid"
Curious to hear your feedback of FreeBSD v5-8. Since many consider those releases (years) very bumpy.
FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
41–50 of 139 posts
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#42> success Can somebody elaborate on FreeBSD's "success"?
macOS is based on FreeBSD.
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#43was it really constructive for this pioneering tech to choose the actual "devil" as a logo? then the move to shiny plastic look for the logo? long-standing public divisions with no end.. niche opinionated choices sure, but dont be surprised at the results.
Is anyone actually offended by a mascot based on a joke about "Unix daemon"? Do they just not get the joke or are they really that sensitive? I imagine it's the same sort of person that opposes table top games like Dungeons & Dragons and shares out Chick tracts (often highly offensive and rude, ostensibly Christian, cartoon tracts denouncing Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, in particular, as well as other groups; we had…
Apparently a tiny minority of people are bothered by it. I was looking for information about the logo a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this anecdote: https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-chat/2011-Novemb...
>I just got a call from the owner of a hotel for which we provide hotspot service. She says that a guest spotted the "Powered by FreeBSD" logo at the bottom of the login page, and was offended; the guest was convinced that either we or the hotel management "worshipped the Devil" and refused to stay at the hotel unless the logo was removed.
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sony based the OSes for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on FreeBSD. Netflix uses FreeBSD in production on parts of its infrastructure. Those two alone are pretty nice success stories. And in addition to those are countless other companies quietly running FreeBSD on their servers.
The Nintendo Switch is based on FreeBSD as well. Also Juniper Networks and several other enterprise networking equipment manufacturers make extensive use of FreeBSD in their products. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_based_on_Free...
The switch kernel / Horizon/NX is not based on FreeBSD. This has been debunked over and over. The wikipedia list is not correct in that regard.
see e.g. https://youtu.be/Ec4NgWRE8ik?t=700
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#45Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Being used as foundation for PlayStation OS, Netflix and others. Isn't that thanks to its license? They literally can be used in closed source software without a word of credit.
> They literally can be used in closed source software without a word of credit. This is not true of any of the "acceptable licenses" listed by FreeBSD. https://www.freebsd.org/internal/software-license/ See: the clauses saying "must reproduce/retain the above copyright".
>See: the clauses saying "must reproduce/retain the above copyright".
Yeah, you will see the copyright if you are working at the company. Outsiders would never know it's a fork.
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#47was it really constructive for this pioneering tech to choose the actual "devil" as a logo? then the move to shiny plastic look for the logo? long-standing public divisions with no end.. niche opinionated choices sure, but dont be surprised at the results.
It's a daemon [1]. Like the process.
30 years ago it wasn't divisive nor a niche opinionated choice. Kinda the obvious choice. But I guess some people really want it to be [2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_Daemon [2] https://www.ign.com/articles/someone-complained-to-ad-standa...
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#48Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#49Love FreeBSD but ... Really wish there wasn't a split between FreeBSD & Matt Dillon 20-years ago, since DragonflyBSD is so strong and yet FreeBSD hasn't benefited from it's innovations. They'd truly would be better together than apart. Can only imagine how much stronger the BSD ecosystem would be overall today, if the past 20-years these teams had been together. https://www.dragonflybsd.org Announcement: https://list…
It's been a long time, but IIRC the split was due to direction on SMP. From what I recall, the FreeBSD team made the right call at the time.
Re: FreeBSD at 30: Its secrets to success
#50Congratulations. I would really like to buy a new edition of "The Design and Evolution of FreeBSD", if it ever happens.
In case you haven't already, you might want to check out the McKusick courses (available as videos). They're not cheap though, maybe you can find pirated copies.
I was fortunate enough to see some back in the VHS days when someone in a local LUG convinced their employer to buy them as a way to support FreeBSD and give the team something to watch together (and recruit from the LUGs via hosted viewings no doubt).