[Info-vax] BSDs vs Linux (was Re: New CEO of VMS Software)

[Simon Clubley]

On 2024-01-15, Scott Dorsey <kludge at panix.com> wrote:
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro  <ldo at nz.invalid> wrote:
>>Pro tip: If you have to start to resort to personal attacks, that’s an 
>>admission that your argument has failed.
>
> Let me explain to you what Linux is, then.  Linux is the Linux kernel, as
> signed off on by Linus T.
>

Linux is generally regarded to be an entire distribution, with the Linux
kernel as one component. My Android phone runs the Linux kernel, but it
is not Linux.

> You can take the linux kernel and modify it for your own purposes, yes.
> Since it's kind of a mess and not really very modular, this turns out to
> be a difficult thing to do, but it's a thing that is possible to do.
> It's a good bit harder than modifying the BSD kernel.
>

It is _vastly_ more modular than the VMS kernel. Unlike the VMS kernel,
I can add my own filesystems for example, and they will just integrate
into the rest of Linux. In fact, I can add that new filesystem as a kernel
module, so I don't even need to touch the Linux source code. Try doing
that on VMS. :-)

> But once you have done it, it's not Linux any more.  It is something else.
> You can call it what you want, but you can no longer call it Linux.  Not
> unless you can get Linus to sign off on your changes.
>

That is misleading. If you modify the Linux scheduler (for example), you
have a point. If you add a new filesystem (for example), then it most
certainly is still Linux.

> All of the "lack of fragmentation" that you think is so wonderful about
> Linux is exclusively the consequence of this.  The fact that one person
> controls what is and what is not the Linux kernel is why there is just
> one Linux kernel family and why there is no fragmentation as there is
> with BSD.
>
> This is why your talk about fragmentation and asking why BSD versions
> are not all the same makes you look like a troll.  Because there is
> something very specific going on with Linux that prevents that 
> fragmentation.  Some people like that.  Not everybody does.
> --scott

Lawrence is coming across as a Linux zealot, who is out of touch in a
number of areas. However, when he is not making some crazy out of touch
comments, such as replicating the VMS APIs on Linux work, then he is also
making _some_ valid points.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.