On 2/5/07, Keech Angelo Famorca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
.... As another example, NetBSD had integrated IPv6 long before Linux. .... Adhering to the principle that FIRST IS NOT ALWAYS BEST,
sounds like the local TV / Telco wars :) in fairness, SE-Linux is also being ported to/as SE-BSD (http://www.trustedbsd.org/sebsd.html) among other things. but it doesn't really matter, right? and to think of it, a BSD variant (FreeBSD) have its own linux-compatibility layer (http://wiki.freebsd.org/linux-kernel). it's not surprising at all since these things are bound to happen in the F/OSS world.
.... Finally, the NetBSD development model can often yield better code quality. For example, NetBSD has full integration of kernel and user space code in the source tree. This ensures code changes are debugged in the context of the entire system. With Linux, kernel and user-space code are not tested together until integrated by the distributor. In addition, in NetBSD, regression test-suites are integrated in source tree, which helps isolate unexpected effects when introducing changes. With Linux, no single testing standard exists, so QA depends on the distributor.
Linux Testing Standard? you must be looking for this _ISO_ standard: Linux Standard Base (LSB) core specification 3.1 (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=43781 ) FreeBSD also happens to use the standard via the tool Linux Test Suite (http://ltp.sourceforge.net/tooltable.php , http://wiki.freebsd.org/linux-kernel ). with regards to kernel, and user-space integration, you can't expect it to be done similar to any BSD variants since their development structure is different. i think most of us are aware of the pitfalls of the former but the pros outweigh the cons and it eventually led to a bigger market share. how about comparing GNU/Hurd w/ *BSD? that would be interesting... QA in F/OSS also depends on the community and the __metrics__ to be considered. if you're going to consider the occurences of defects per line of source code, you can refer to Reasoning and Coverity's data: (http://www.reasoning.com/ , http://www.coverity.com/html/press_story08_06_27_05.html) Unix : ~0.70 defects per 1,000 lines of code ( *, propietary) FreeBSD : 0.25 defects per 1,000 lines of code (306 / ~122 M) Linux: : 0.17 defects per 1,000 lines of code (985 / ~5.7 M , v2.6.9) despite the linux's gain, it's not fair to compare the two since the FreeBSD code includes both the kernel and userland tools while the Linux code is only a kernel. and considering linux kernel's upstream development, v2.6.9 can't be considered for mass deployment unless when one is after those new features. the __sane__ usually waits for the kernel branch to mature and reach the x.x.2x or much better, the x.x.3x release. others can think of it as someone waiting for the SP2 release before purchasing a redmond-based OS :) there are other metrics to be considered for the quality of a __product__ in terms of security and reliability (aside from the code), and those are rated via the Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) and the Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS) among others. Below is the list of EAL certified products as a reference: http://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/public/consumer/index.php you can see that only those gnu/linux distros with strong corporate backing (redhat, novell) are EAL-certified since it really involves a lot of resources in order to obtain one. you may not see a general- purpose BSD distro on the list (aside from OS X which is actually based on a Mach/IOKit/FreeBSD kernel hybrid) but a significant embedded OS descendant (JunOS, Nokia IPSO) are also on the list. speaking of network devices, Linux also have its own list of __carrier-grade__ standards and software products that are being integrated into carrier-grade (telco) hardwares. (http://old.linux-foundation.org/lab_activities/carrier_grade_linux/registration.html/document_view http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT6957998682.html#products ) so which one really matters? it depends on one's preference that i and the rest really don't care about. =D _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
