
UbuntuBSD, Unix for human beings - blorgle
http://news.softpedia.com/news/meet-ubuntubsd-unix-for-human-beings-501959.shtml
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JdeBP
> _The best part of using the FreeBSD kernel is that you 'll end up using the
> famous Z File System, [...] with a separate UFS partition for /boot. As
> expected, ZFS support is completely integrated into the ubuntuBSD operating
> system._

It's not really "complete" to not put the boot volume onto ZFS, too. Having a
separate /boot volume formatted as UFS was state of the art for FreeBSD some
while ago. But things have changed since.

PC-BSD nowadays puts _all_ volumes onto ZFS, the root dataset (which includes
/boot) included. The bootstrap loader has been augmented to support loading
the kernel from a ZFS volume. The PC-BSD installer _only_ creates ZFS volumes,
moreover.

* [http://web.pcbsd.org/doc-archive/10.2/html/install.html#zfs-...](http://web.pcbsd.org/doc-archive/10.2/html/install.html#zfs-overview)

* [https://blog.pcbsd.org/2013/06/pc-bsd-status-update/](https://blog.pcbsd.org/2013/06/pc-bsd-status-update/)

Having /boot in the same single dataset as / makes "boot environments" easier,
as switching amongst boot environments is just a matter of changing the root
dataset.

Ironically, there's less of a hurdle for "UbuntuBSD" copying this than one
might think. PC-BSD 10.2 uses GRUB's loader mechanisms for Debian/kFreeBSD.

* [https://www.ixsystems.com/blog/a-closer-look-at-the-changes-...](https://www.ixsystems.com/blog/a-closer-look-at-the-changes-in-pc-bsd-trueos-9-2-part-1/)

------
blorgle
My 2c is that this seems like an interesting project, but at some point lots
of important Ubuntu packages (especially daemons) will be rolling out with
systemd unit files and so on, it will be a lot of work to maintain BSD init
scripts. It doesn't seem like it will be so simple as running Ubuntu userland
on the FreeBSD kernel.

~~~
JdeBP
The point where packages are rolling out with systemd unit files _has already
come and passed_. The first rule of migrating to systemd has applied since
last year, at least; to Ubuntu as to everyone else.

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/sy...](http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/systemd-house-of-horror/daemonize.html#first-rule)

* [http://askubuntu.com/a/626858/43344](http://askubuntu.com/a/626858/43344)

* [http://askubuntu.com/a/707750/43344](http://askubuntu.com/a/707750/43344)

Of course, it is _not_ a lot of work to maintain NetBSD/FreeBSD rc scripts, in
the majority of cases. They don't look like System 5 rc scripts at all.

* [http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/~checkout~/src/etc/rc.d/...](http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/~checkout~/src/etc/rc.d/lpd?rev=1.6&only_with_tag=MAIN)

But you're making an unfounded assumption that because UbuntuBSD uses the
FreeBSD kernel, it will use the NetBSD/FreeBSD rc system. This is not the case
for Debian/kFreeBSD and I would be very surprised were it the case for this,
which is apparently an "Ubuntu/kFreeBSD" (as it were). Debian/kFreeBSD uses
the Linux System 5 rc system, which is very much _not_ "BSD init scripts".
This will very probably use that, too. So the fact that NetBSD/FreeBSD rc
scripts are a lot better organized than the Linux System 5 rc scripts that one
finds on Debian is scant comfort.

What might give more comfort is that there's no reason that nosh couldn't run
on UbuntuBSD. It can take systemd service/socket units and convert them to
native service bundles, which can be used on FreeBSD under nosh service
management.

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/Softwa...](http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/Softwares/nosh/worked-example.html)

It would be interesting to try.

