[plug] FreeBSD versus Linux question

[Steege, Phil E]

Christian
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Cheers,
Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Müller [mailto:mullerc at iinet.net.au] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 7:02 PM
To: plug at plug.linux.org.au
Subject: Re: [plug] FreeBSD versus Linux question


Phil,

> Is FreeBSD a version of Linux or a completely separate OS?

FreeBSD is a true unix, built on the Berkley 4.4 lite kernel

> I have heard it is very good in networking and security areas.

security is only what you make of it

> Has anyone installed it and could give me some advice or warnings.

I find FreeBSD extremely good in that you can compile everything from 
source from the ports tree. The ports tree is basically a system that 
includes most of the packages that freebsd can run on and all you will 
have to do is to select the wanted program, go to the respective 
directory in the ports tree . eg /usr/ports/www/mozilla/, type make && 
make install && make clean && rehash and it will download the source for 
you, compile it, install it and clean up after itself. It will also 
figure out all dependencies and download the required sources and 
compile them.

When installing FreeBSD you will see a change in the installation 
procedure compared to Linux systems.

partiotioning:

FreeBSD uses slices, so you create one partition and then slice this up.

cvsup

i would suggest doing a minimum install of the system, changing 
/etc/defaults/make.conf to reflect your current processor, check in 
/usr/share/examples/cvsup/README, copy stable-supfile, ports-supfile to 
/root, modify these, i don't think you wll need the japanese ports.

go to /usr/ports/net/cvsup, make && make install && make clean && 
rehash, read in the handbook that can be accessed on the freebsd webpage 
about using makeworld, compiling a new kernel, follow these steps and 
finally update your portstree with cvsup -g -L 2 /root/ports-supfile; go 
to /usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade, do make && make install && make 
clean && rehash, wait for that to install, portupgrade -av

Then you can install to your hearts content. There are a few problems 
though, openoffice does not compile on FreeBSD yet, hopefully that will 
be fixed soon, and there are a few other programs that will not work, 
like Kylix.

Be patient if you compil KDE3, that will take a few hours and should be 
best left to be run overnight :)

It is best to read up on the FreeBSD website, the handbook is very 
helpful, there alse is a FreeBSD cheat sheet out on the net, this is a 
bit outdated though but still contains useful information.

Hope this helps,

Christian

> 
> Cheers,
> Phil
>