LinuxQuestions.org - Linux, Unix *BSD. What's the difference?

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Linux, Unix *BSD. What's the difference?

Hey !

I am a somewhat newbie to linux (1 year).

But what is the difference between Linux, FreeBSD and Unix?

Linux and BSD are Unix derived.

Ok, but what makes them so different?

David

There's a sticky about that on *BSD forum and a couple of threads just a few threads below on LinuxQuestions - General about Linux Vs *BSD :tisk:

Linux != UNIX -- Linux is a (mostly) complete rewrite to mimic minix with no ties to real UNIX. Linux itself is just a kernel with the GNU utilities used for userland.

*BSD == UNIX -- BSD is UNIX, but isn't allowed to be called "UNIX" due to stupid copyright issues ... The BSD's all have a common history dating ~14 years before the first line of the Linux kernel was written.

Generally speaking, UNIX (BSD, AIX, Solaris, etc) are more "industrial strength", stable, etc. than Linux. Linux fanboys will argue this point, but it's mostly due to their not knowing any better.

/me puts on the asbestos suit

Quote:

BSD is what you get when a bunch of Unix hackers sit down to try to port a Unix system to the PC. Linux is what you get when a bunch of PC hackers sit down and try to write a Unix system for the PC.

I sorta clicked a little when I read that :)