
FreeBSD expands activities as funds flow in - emaste
http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/59658-freebsd-expands-activities-as-funds-flow-in
======
deelowe
This is great to hear. I'm a huge fan of the BSD OS's, but it's been
concerning that lately FBSD seemed to be falling out of favor. Unfortunately,
many 'unix' people these days have only ever worked with Linux distros. While
the distro model does provide a novel approach to packaging an OS that has
it's strengths, there are some downsides. I love Linux for the suppor, the
rapid release cycles, and the many different approaches to things(e.g. init
systems). However, sometimes I have a project that requires an OS that just
works as cohesive product(eg. file server or network appliance) and FreeBSD
typically fits that bill for me. The support is much more limited, but the
things it does support are almost always rock solid.

~~~
kbenson
The first time I really had to use a BSD (OpenBSD) system for more than some
simple tasks, I was blown away. There's a definite feel of _design_ , as
opposed to a large set of features and interfaces that happen to work together
to varying degrees as in Linux.

And the man pages. Oh, how wondrous they were. This first thing I had to do
was learn to NOT google for how to accomplish something, but just read the man
page. Often, there's not much on google about something because there was no
need for someone to document how they accomplished it, they just did what the
man page said _and it worked_.

In linux, the man pages are generally skeletons outlining some flags and what
something might support. In BSD (or at least OpenBSD) for core OS items, they
are _canonical_. Compare:

    
    
      http://linux.die.net/man/8/ifconfig
    
      http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ifconfig
    

Note: One the reasons the OpenBSD ifconfig man page is so big is because on
OpenBSD ifconfig does the job of multiple Linux utils, _because it makes sense
to have ifconfig control all the interface state_.

That said, I still mainly use Linux, specifically RHEL and derivatives,
specifically because I think the enterprise Linux distros have a better
support model for enterprise environments, where multiple machines need to be
kept up to date or in sync, and you need to deploy identically (and
repeatably) to systems.

Frankly, I'm surprised there's not a alternate, distro model for FreeBSD
that's aimed at the enterprise to address these issues (or if there is, it's
not popular enough for me to know of it). Maybe FreeBSD as an organization is
coherent _enough_ and does a _good enough_ job at support for the distro in
general that there's never been enough of push to really compete in the
enterprise server market. Or maybe I'm just misinformed about how much BSD is
in use in the enterprise. That's always a possibility.

~~~
deno
> Note: One the reasons the OpenBSD ifconfig man page is so big is because on
> OpenBSD ifconfig does the job of multiple Linux utils, because it makes
> sense to have ifconfig control all the interface state.

<https://linux.die.net/man/8/ip>

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iproute2>

~~~
GalacticDomin8r
More addon tools simply proves the point.

Task / BSD / Linux

set ip / ifconfig / ifconfig or now "ip" which is extremely confusing

wifi / ifconfig / iwconfig

speed / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool

duplex / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool

vlan / ifconfig / vlan

wol / ifconfig / miitool or ethtool

bridge / ifconfig / brctl

link aggregation / ifconfig / flags while loading module OR use distro network
config scripts and restart _all_ networking or reboot server

Want find out which nic is occupying ethX perhaps for tuning or scripting etc?

Linux = complicated, by distro/version

FreeBSD = nic by device eg em0

~~~
deno
> Linux = complicated, by distro/version

Most Linux distros are adopting consistent naming schemes, using biosdevname
algorithm, e.g.

[https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ConsistentNetworkDev...](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/ConsistentNetworkDeviceNaming)

> More addon tools simply proves the point.

I was only showing that comparing Linux’s ifconfig with BSD’s ifconfig is not
fair, not really making any point.

I don’t see how this is all that confusing though, you get ip for managing
routing and iw/ethtool/etc for managing interfaces or creating interfaces on
lower networking levels or device level. It’s just different.

------
emaste
Investing in staff is a primary goal for the Foundation for 2013. The staff
members who have been announced so far are Konstantin Belousov and Edward
Tomasz Napierała, with announcements at
[http://freebsdfoundation.blogspot.com/2013/03/foundation-
ann...](http://freebsdfoundation.blogspot.com/2013/03/foundation-announces-
new-technical.html) and
[http://freebsdfoundation.blogspot.com/2013/04/freebsd-
founda...](http://freebsdfoundation.blogspot.com/2013/04/freebsd-foundation-
announces-second.html) .

In the past the FreeBSD Foundation has sponsored quite a number of specifc
projects; having technical staff members employed by the Foundation allows for
new kinds of work to be performed. Operational tasks are one example, and
include the release process, handling security issues, system testing, and
maintaining project servers. Having Foundation-employed staff also provides
ability to provide continuity to longer term projects that require smaller but
repeated efforts.

------
cturner
Guys if you've got some spare cash I recommend putting a bit towards having
FreeBSD working flawlessly on a single well-defined desktop platform (e.g.
thinkpad). It doesn't need to be fancy, but the little things like suspend-
and-resume need to work correctly without tinkering. That way if someone wants
to run FreeBSD, you give them a straightforward starting point. At the moment
some FreeBSD fans reluctantly turn to linux for these reasons.

~~~
profquail
This is a great idea! I think it would be a waste of time for FreeBSD to take
the _entire_ desktop market on -- Linux has been fighting that battle for
years -- but it would be awesome if Dell/HP/Lenovo came out with a PC-BSD-
based laptop with official support. (For those not familiar with FreeBSD, PC-
BSD is the "Desktop" edition of FreeBSD.)

Another feature I'd really like to see the FreeBSD Foundation focus on this
year is full support for Xen/KVM, with the specific goal of getting FreeBSD to
be a "first-class" citizen on EC2. Interestingly, some folks from Microsoft
are working on Hyper-V drivers so perhaps we'll see FreeBSD on Azure in the
future.

~~~
cturner
Dell/HP/Lenovo won't do that - the most they're likely to do is half-assed
support for Linux. That's why it would be neat if FreeBSD to get themselves
working solidly on a single platform, because fans would have a reliable
option.

~~~
65a
Recent thinkpads recognize FreeBSD as an OS, and then promptly have tons of
issues with poorly designed ACPI.

------
profquail
FreeBSD is also participating in Google Summer of Code 2013, in case any
students are considering applying to the program. The application deadline is
May 3rd though (2 days from today), so if you are thinking about it you need
to hurry:

<http://www.freebsd.org/projects/summerofcode.html>

------
ejdyksen
The one place I'd like to see FreeBSD run better is on Amazon EC2. Last I
looked at the effort, it was subverting the VM mode used for Windows EC2
instances to boot FreeBSD. Unfortunately, this means paying the Windows price
for instances.

~~~
emaste
Yes - the Foundation is interested in ensuring FreeBSD works well in both
virtualization guest and host capacities.

Newer EC2 instance types don't tie the Windows license fee to HVM mode and
FreeBSD can be run on those, for no additional cost:
<https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B00AA25MLK>. The Foundation would like
to see FreeBSD available on the other EC2 tiers without additional fees and is
investigating alternate approaches there.

~~~
cperciva
FWIW, while the AWS Marketplace only lists cc1.4xlarge, cg1.4xlarge,
cc2.8xlarge, and hi1.4xlarge, my native-HVM AMIs also run on cr1.8xlarge,
hs1.8xlarge, m3.xlarge, and m3.2xlarge.

The only instance types where you need to pay the Windows tax are m1. _, m2._
, c1.*, and t1.micro (although in some regions the Windows tax for t1.micro is
free). Unfortunately, this set includes all of the smallest/cheapest instance
types, and thus the ones people want to use most often...

------
Nux
Wishlist: really looking forward for a proper binary package management (à la
yum/apt) and long term releases!

~~~
emaste
A much improved binary package management system, known as "pkgng," is on the
horizon. More information is available at <https://wiki.freebsd.org/pkgng>.
Pkgng will feel very natural to anyone familiar with apt.

If you'd like an introduction to pkgng there's a video from BSDCan 2012 at
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hxq7AHZ27I>, or see the README at
<https://github.com/pkgng/pkgng/blob/master/README.md>.

~~~
Nux
I'm looking forward to it!

~~~
65a
You can try it on FreeBSD-CURRENT...It's really night-and-day better than it
used to be. Less underscores, and it runs about 20-40% faster than the old one
even when "adding" software compiled from source (portmaster -day is almost
twice as fast).

~~~
Nux
I'm using this[1], but having problems finding a binary repo where to get
pkgng and the packages "ports".

[1] - [https://pub.allbsd.org/FreeBSD-
snapshots/amd64-amd64/10.0-HE...](https://pub.allbsd.org/FreeBSD-
snapshots/amd64-amd64/10.0-HEAD-r250041-JPSNAP/iso/FreeBSD-10.0-HEAD-r250041-JPSNAP-
amd64-amd64-release.iso)

------
bitwize
Happy to hear. With the systemd-pocalypse looming in Linux land, we who love
Unix need an alternative.

~~~
pjmlp
I don't understand. There are lots of alternatives.

\- Aix

\- HP-UX

\- Solaris

\- Tru64

\- MacOS X

\- QNX

Or do you mean you don't pay for your OS?

~~~
drifting
I don't think any of those are Open Source. There is OpenSolaris, but you
didn't list that.

~~~
pjmlp
The complaint was about UNIX alternatives, not free beer.

------
profquail
For those interested in FreeBSD, a couple of additional links you might enjoy:

Installing FreeBSD on Raspberry Pi:

<http://blog.khubla.com/?p=18>

Android on FreeBSD:

<http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=37527>

------
trippy_biscuits
I absolutely adore FreeBSD. I work in linux these days because it's easier to
bundle and distribute an upgradeable (binary distribution) linux appliance. I
will run back to FreeBSD as soon as possible.

~~~
emaste
Once pkgng is available in a release pkgng will really improve the binary
upgrade case, and the multiple repository support will also be of interest to
anyone deploying an appliance using a number of stock packages and a few
custom ones.

~~~
inopinatus
This, plus compatibility for the low-cost non-defenestrated EC2 instances will
finally provide a realistic alternative to the huge farms of Ubuntu currently
haunting AWS.

------
ProNihilist
I'm not sure what the challenges involved are since I'm just a .NET guy who
uses a debian home server, but I would switch to FreeBSD instantly if I could
get utf-8 support in my irssi.

------
edwinnathaniel
Sometimes I felt that the FreeBSD-Linux situation is similar to Python-Ruby.

FreeBSD/Python is more ... stable-ish and the community is calmer (or probably
more mature) but the development is not as fast-pace as the Linux/Ruby
counterpart.

~~~
chubot
That analogy doesn't really hold, since Python is more popular than Ruby,
while FreeBSD is much less popular than Linux.

~~~
edwinnathaniel
I'm surprised. I see more Ruby these days (all the online learning courses
i.e.: codeacademy, etc).

Where I live, you won't have trouble finding Rails developers but not so much
when it comes to Python.

Github is filled with probably more Ruby than Python.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Python is more popular, Ruby is more trendy and visible.

<http://www.langpop.com/>

[http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index....](http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html)

------
cvjones360
FreeBSD, FTW!!!

