[leglug-users] BSD vs. Linux

[Hisham Mardam Bey]

Hey Abdallah,

On 2/21/07, Abdallah Deeb <abdallah.deeb at gmail.com> wrote:
> How about a holy war? I miss the old days!
>
> Anyway, from a prev. email
> laurent FANIS wrote:
> > BTW are you going to desert us (oBSD) for FreeBSD ?
>
> I thought this was a Linux mailing list ={

::{hisham at gaia (11:34:08) - ~ }::
.oOo. uname -a
FreeBSD gaia.mardambey.net 6.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE #0: Fri Jan
12 10:40:27 UTC 2007

I decided to run FreeBSD on my laptop because around 18 months ago
when I bought it, getting the wireless adapter to work on Linux proved
cumbersome, between kernel crap, firmware, etc... A quick look at
FreeBSD showed me that all the hardware was fully supported "out of
the box". The end result was me installing FreeBSD 6.0, and I am
running 6.2 there today, using their wonderful method of binary diffs
for upgrades. FreeBSD's ports system was an instant favorite of mine,
and if I didn't want to compile from source, I could always install
binaries using pkg_add (it also follows dependencies and has a remote
installation option, making it a la apt). So between excellent
hardware support, a stable and secure system, wonderful package
installation options, and the largest (i think its the largest)
package collection on the planet, whats not to love? (=

root at be1.gcg.com ~ # uname -a
OpenBSD be1.gcg.com 3.9 GENERIC#720 i386

In regard to my server installs here and there, and at my latest job
(a wireless ISP in Bissau, Africa), OpenBSD has been an indispensable
operating system. From its amazing firewall PF, to its wonderful
queueing system (ALTQ), failover capabilities (CARP), wireless support
and tools, and its increased out of the box security, OpenBSD is the
way to go in scenarios such as this one. OpenBSD also uses ports for
package installs, and has specific hardened installs for things like
apache, squid, OpenOSPFD, OpenBGPD, OpenCVS (soon), and various
others. The OpenBSD team is redefining code-level security in the way
they audit every little part of their code. OpenBSD is also an amazing
choice when it comes to embedded routers. bridges, and firewalls. It
is one of the unix-like operating systems with the most number of
supported wireless cards, and things like hostapd make it an
indispensable resource if you want things like fast client roaming
support on your network.

I have been researching and building this set up for the past year,
and to tell you the truth, Linux has not been the best pick. I am
finding myself more and more inclined to go with OpenBSD for
everything these days. The OpenBSD team has a very high commitment to
security, making things work well, and their concept of a hackathlon,
something they do every few months, is wonderful (they all gather in a
certain country and decide to completely finish a certain function /
subset of the OS that is lacking).

This is what I have to say about the subject for now. Let the wars begin! (=

Best regards,
hisham.

-- 
Hisham Mardam Bey
MSc (Computer Science)
http://hisham.cc/
+9613609386
Codito Ergo Sum (I Code Therefore I Am)