[Info-vax] OS implementation languages

[plugh]

On Monday, September 4, 2023 at 8:57:27 AM UTC-7, chrisq wrote:
> On 8/29/23 19:58, Arne Vajhøj wrote: 
> > On 8/29/2023 9:15 AM, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
> >> On Thu, 1970-01-01 at 00:00 +0000, Simon Clubley wrote: 
> >>>> Very much FreeBSD here for some years, after decades first with 
> >>>> dec, 
> >>>> then Sun. Forms the basic of at least some proprietary offerings, 
> >>>> as 
> >>>> well as millions of embedded devices. Linux is still a unix, 
> >>>> and runs the majority of web sites of the world, so if anything, 
> >>>> unix has won the os wars... 
> >>>> 
> >>> 
> >>> Yes, very much so. (And I can't believe Arne thinks the *BSDs have no 
> >>> serious users... :-) ). 
> >>
> >> Netflix picked FreeBSD as it could chuck out data at 400GB/s. Linux was 
> >> not even close. 
> > 
> > Yes. But. 
> > 
> > NetFlix is running their general server load (node.js, Spring Boot, 
> > Kafka, MySQL, Cassandra etc.) on Linux (supposedly Ubuntu) 
> > in AWS. 
> > 
> > NetFlix chose FreeBSD for their CDN appliance that they deploy 
> > at ISP's. 
> > 
> > Maybe not so important market share wise. 
> > 
> > But certainly proof of FreeBSD's technical qualities. The default 
> > choice would have been Linux, so FreeBSD must have proven to 
> > be better to be selected. 
> > 
> > Arne 
> > 
> 
> Not just that, but tech users expect easiiy viewed transparency from 
> desktop right down to bare metal, and the ability to customise that 
> environment. Far easier to do that with FreeBSD, than with Linux, 
> which becomes ever more complex and opaque. systemd tentacles extend 
> right through the system. crossing boundaries between what should 
> remain encapsulated and abstracted system components. So yes, Linux 
> is dead here for serious work, so long as they continue on that path. 
> It's what happens when good technical projects get corrupted by big 
> business politics, which are rarely compatable... 
> 
> Chris

It's true that systemd caused quite a kerfluffle when it was first introduced to Debian. I think it's the right decision. As for tentacles, systemd's are from macos. The way Debian has deployed it, system control is still accessible via the traditional /etc/init.d route.

With Bookworm comes the loss of /var/log and its ilk in favor of journalctl. It's the paradox of *nix that to retain useful software, one must customize the stock installation in ways most VMS sysdmins would abhore.

Nevertheless, the utility of systemd as a bootstrap mechanism over /etc/init.d should be obvious to a system mangler needing to manage the tangle of dependencies that is the modern OS bootstrap sequence.

Add to that the novel requirement to support virtual machines, a systematic approach to the customizations we need to enable the multiplicity of these systems is ever more appropriate.