The BSD-based free unices may be unfamiliar to many Linux users. Here is a short description of the free BSD derivatives. You can find a longer history in the BSD FAQ, which is part of the UNIX Unleashed Internet Edition.
History of the Free BSDs
The original BSD was written at UC Berkeley in 1978, based on UNIX V6 from Bell Labs. Bell Labs allowed universities to buy UNIX for a very small fee, and they included the source code with rights to modify and experiment with it.
Unfortunately, distribution of the AT&T code was restricted. Fortunately, the restrictions were not "contagious"; by 1989 the folks at Berkeley realized that they had rewritten more than 90% of the OS from scratch, and they could do what they wanted with their own code. They released their code as Net/1 in 1989, Net/2 in 1991, and 4.4 BSD Lite in 1994 (after AT&T's UNIX group dropped a 1992 lawsuit against UCB). Bill and Lynn Jolitz turned Net/2 into a working OS called 386BSD. They also gave their code back to Berkeley, which spun off BSD Inc., who developed the Jolitzes' code into the commercial BSD/OS.
The free BSDs are all based on 386BSD, with a second dose of Berkeley code from 4.4 BSD Lite. FreeBSD started by repackaging 386BSD for easier installation on 386 machines. NetBSD started at about the same time with efforts to port 386BSD to other platforms. OpenBSD broke away from the NetBSD project in 1996, when some NetBSD developers decided that the NetBSD folks weren't paranoid enough. Since then, the *BSDs have remained true to their origins:
- FreeBSD is the most user friendly. It has an easy, attractive installation interface reminiscent of Slackware or RedHat Linux.
- NetBSD is the most portable. It runs on practically everything, including some microwave ovens.
- OpenBSD is the most security-oriented. It went through a line-by-line audit for bugs and security holes and continues to be a paranoid sysadmin's fantasy.
At the same time, the three BSDs have remained very close to each other. They are probably more similar than any three Linux distributions. For example, many NetBSD bugs are found first in OpenBSD, and vice versa.
Why is Linux so Much More Popular?
This is where Linux users like to start holy wars by answering, "Because it's so much more better!" But be that as it may, there's a simple explanation for Linux's edge: Linux had a head start.
True, the BSD code is much older--a dozen years older--but it wasn't free until Linux had been in development for about a year. That gave Linux a head start, which captured most of the Internet's untapped enthusiasm for a personal UNIX.
Worse, the UNIX folks at AT&T picked 1992 to file a lawsuit against UC Berkeley. They claimed that the Berkeley folks stole UNIX trade secrets when they released their BSD code. True, there was no AT&T code in the Net/2 release. But the Net/2 code was inspired by the AT&T code, so the argument ran.
All in all, the AT&T lawsuit was not unlike the "Look and feel" lawsuits filed by Apple Corp. Berkeley's free UNIX certainly had that UNIX look and feel; that was the whole point. But as Apple (and the world) would learn, you can copyright code; you can patent algorithms; but you can't copyright or patent ideas.
There's no telling whether AT&T learned its lesson. The lawsuit was dropped in 1994, when Novell bought out the AT&T UNIX group. Novell just didn't see any payoff in harassing UCB.
Unfortunately for BSD, the lawsuit bought Linux even more lead time. For two years, the future of BSD was in grave doubt. If AT&T had won their lawsuit, then V7 would have become the one true UNIX--and BSD would never be free. Fear, uncertainty and doubt drove most interested developers away from BSD and toward Linux.
If it weren't for AT&T's frivolous lawsuit, there's no telling whether Linux or BSD would have ended up with the larger following. Remember, Linux has imparted a mystique to rogue software. Back in the olden days of 1992, the thought of owning a "real" UNIX would have been mighty appealing.
Which is better? NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, or FreeBSD?
The following comparison was written by Dave Burgess. It was originally posted to usenet on December 13, 1996, to the BSD newsgroups (one of which is comp.unix.openbsd.announce). It was posted monthly as part of the NetBSD, FreeBSD and OpenBSD FAQ. It was last posted on October 13, 1997.
NetBSD is the best of the three because of it's superb error handling capabilities (this is the "Net" referred to in the name). With NetBSD, it's almost impossible to make a mistake, either in installation, or operation, because the system will "catch" you as you "fall". NetBSD works on a wide range of processors, including the Intel 386, 486, and 586, the Sun, Sparc, SGI, MIPS, Macintosh, Motorola 6809, Krupf, ADC Kentrox, Whirlpool, Amana, Zilog Z80, Timex-Sinclair, and the Braun. Currently, the NetBSD team is devoting all of their energies towards finishing the all-important IBM RT port.
Linux is the successor to an operating system called "Minix". Linux was developed by Linus Pauling, a Finnish communist. Linux tries to uphold traditional Marxist values in several ways; firstly by using GNU tools from the FSF foundation wherever possible. The Linux kernel is developed by committee, and the operating system reflects this: rather than having one "init" process which fathers all others, a group of co-resident processes with equal powers are created simultaneously. "Kill" commands are treated as formal protests. Linux networking has come a long way since it's implementation, and there is no truth whatsoever to the rumor that sudden losses of IP connectivity are in any way related to future plans to limit users to 1.5 hours of SLIP or PPP unless they send in the registration fee.
FreeBSD was a radical offshoot of the Linux project; you could consider it to be of the Trotskyite school. FreeBSD supports an extremely wide range of PC hardware, as long as it was obtained at less than cost. FreeBSD is used by Amnesty International and many other human rights organizations. FreeBSD supports every peripheral available for the IBM PC except the ones you have. The FreeBSD team was actually responsible for porting "Doom" to Linux, in a successful effort to slow down constructive work by distracting the central committee with frivolous games. FreeBSD has the nicest installation of any of the x86 unices -- you install the boot disks, which then initialize the modem and call Jordan "Perky" Hubbard, who then comes to your house with the rest of the disks and completes the installation. The FreeBSD CD-ROM plays various Nick Cave and Tom Waits songs Jordan is known to be fond of.
386bsd was written by Bill Jolitz in a fit of pique. It was based entirely on Sun's widely-respected "Solaris" operating system, as revenge against Sun's Bill Joy, who rudely chose a name with the same initials as Jolitz. A new version of 386bsd will be released very soon. Unfortunately, it will only run on 386es, and thus is unsuitable for anyone with a 486 or Pentium. 486bsd should be released "sometime in 2138," according to industry insider James Monroe, Sr.
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Free and Net BSD teams split up in the year 1632. The cause of the split is uncertain, but it seems to have something to do with someone named "Janice." They still get together for drinks occasionally, and remember old times...The kids still blame themselves.
- The Linux kernel has actually not changed at all since January, '94. Linus just increments "version.c" once every 48 hours and unleashes the "change" on an unsuspecting Internet, bringing FTP servers to their knees. A book, "The Design and Implementation of the Linux Operating System," by Gary Marshall James T. Kirk McUsenet, was rejected by Addison-Wesley on the grounds that they didn't feel the public was prepared to purchase a book written on looseleaf paper with diagrams in crayon.
- All three systems claim to be "POSIX" compliant. However, the POSIX people have denied knowing anything about it. Scuttlebutt in the industry is that POSIX will soon be outdated, and will be replaced by GNOPIX, a FSF standard which implements the TOPS-20 operating system in Scheme.
