

FreeBSD vs. Slackware - rohshall
http://roqet.org/freebsd_vs_slackware.html

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stevencorona
Oracle XE? What a weird requirement for a home server. Esp. for someone who's
main motivation for using Slackware over FreeBSD is because of the GPL.

As someone that's used Slackware AND FreeBSD heavily (I ran Slackware as a
desktop for a year around 2008 before switching to Gentoo and have used
FreeBSD in a high-volume server environment)- my advice is NEITHER.

I use Ubuntu Server now. I rather get shit done with a heavily-used, well-
supported Linux distro instead of dealing with package hell and compiling most
everything from source.

~~~
laumars
I can understand your criticism against Slackware (though I do love that
distro), but I don't agree with them against FreeBSD at all.

FreeBSD has binary repositories as well plus even it's source repositories
(read: ports) is just are reliable as the best Linux has to offer.

Furthermore, ZFS is a killer feature (yes, I know Linux has BtrFS, but as far
as I know it's still not yet classed as 'stable' - while ZFS is already tried,
tested and depended upon in many servers right across the globe).

And personally, I think FreeBSD has a lot saner defaults than Ubuntu Server.

/Laurence (FreeBSD and Slackware user for the last 10 years)

~~~
stevencorona
I agree that ZFS is a killer feature. But nowadays you can get a native Linux
Kernel Module for ZFS (<http://zfsonlinux.org/>).

I disagree about ports being as reliable as package management on Ubuntu. For
me, it was always super hairy, even with years of Portage/emerge experience on
Gentoo.

Apt is just buttery smooth.

Also, part of the reason I switched was performance. Our LAMP-ish stack on the
same hardware was able to serve like 25-30% more requests per second on Ubuntu
vs. FreeBSD. But this is a non-issue for a homeserver.

~~~
Freaky
> nowadays you can get a native Linux Kernel Module for ZFS

Is it considered production ready yet?

> I disagree about ports being as reliable as package management on Ubuntu.
> For me, it was always super hairy, even with years of Portage/emerge
> experience on Gentoo.

Ports have always been pretty crap for upgrades. There simply isn't enough
metadata to do it reliably, so we're stuck with reading /usr/ports/UPDATING
and being careful with whatever third party tool we're using to manage it all.

This is compounded by there being no "stable" branches - everything in ports
happens on trunk, and everyone's expected to follow that. If you're looking
for Debian-stable-style backporting of security fixes and sticking with the
same version of Apache for half a decade, FreeBSD probably isn't for you.

> Apt is just buttery smooth.

pkgng is buttery smoother (<http://wiki.freebsd.org/pkgng/>).

------
whalesalad
Not sure why this is on the homepage. It reminds us that Slackware linux and
FreeBSD are great server platforms regardless of how old your hardware is.
What gives?

I was actually really amped to read this! I've been a linux nerd for a long
time. My buddies and I, instead of getting laid in high school like normal
people, would play with trying to make Slackware look like OS X. Remember the
infamous digital blasphemy mushroom wallpaper? --
[http://digitalblasphemy.com/graphics/previews/fluorescence6_...](http://digitalblasphemy.com/graphics/previews/fluorescence6_preview.jpg)
(cc @aprilzero if you are out there haha)

Anyway ... point is I'd really love some more resources for someone who has
been a linux person most of their life/career but is open and interested in
learning more about FreeBSD. I have a micro instance running cperciva's 8.2
install and it's waiting for me to give it more attention. Listing the
processes or running top and seeing just how incredibly lightweight it is ...
makes me happy. It feels so zippy. I realize this same thing can probably be
accomplished with linux by installing a very baseline operating system, but
it's refreshing to see nonetheless.

I'm looking forward to playing with FreeBSD this weekend ... any tips are
welcome!

------
irrationalidiom
Arch Linux.

It's fast like Slackware (which I liked when I tried it), very customisable by
using PKGBUILD/AUR (similar to Gentoo portage, which is amazing for absolute
control) and has an excellent wiki (<https://wiki.archlinux.org/>).

You'll also get the most up-to-date packages, and roll along happily.

If you feel you need a little more stability, then go with a Gentoo or Funtoo
Stage3 install. :-)

Re FreeBSD, the best thing about it is the Port system, but you'll likely be
hating the non-GNU userspace!

~~~
laumars
There really isn't /that/ much difference between BSD and GNUs user space. And
definitely nothing that can't be found out after spending a few seconds in
Google or the UNIX man pages.

Plus FreeBSD docs are excellent (in fact I've found them to be a more reliable
source than even Ubuntu's - but that's a whole other topic)

------
mmariani
I stopped reading when the guy talked about licensing. C'mon, it's a home
server! Just pick something you feel comfortable with and go with it. After
all, the entire world economy isn't depending on stability of your home server
setup. Or is it? ;)

~~~
laumars
Indeed. When choosing which OS to run on a home server, does it really matter
that BSD doesn't legally obliged developers to make their modifications
public? And to state that FreeBSD's future is in doubt because it's not GPL is
just stupid.

If I didn't know better, I'd accuse this article of being pro-GPL propaganda.

At the end of the day, they're both popular platforms released under
"copyleft" licenses. And what's more, neither licences have any baring on the
performance nor stability of the OSs. So all his harping on about "must be
headless" (though oddly he does contradict himself latter on by stating he
doesn't care about the DE/WM) to maximize performance was completely invalided
when his final choice was down to something as arbitrary and irrelevant as
whether other developers have to contribute back to the base OS.

------
thirsteh
Please don't use "1st off,"

------
minm
Just install Tonido (<http://www.tonido.com/application_download.html>) on top
of your slackware and make it a personal cloud. You will thank me after the
fact :).

