From: Chad Perrin Date: 2007-09-11T04:12:29+09:00 Subject: Re: What Linux distribution to choose for learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 01:54:42AM +0900, Lionel Bouton wrote: > Chad Perrin wrote the following on 10.09.2007 18:46 : > > No . . . the "real source code action" would be in a BSD Unix (FreeBSD, > > NetBSD, OpenBSD), not any Linux distribution. You can also get good > > package-based software management, at least with FreeBSD and NetBSD (I'm > > not familiar enough with OpenBSD to comment on it in this respect), if > > you want that too. Back when I was a Debianista, my response to any > > recommendation to give Gentoo a try was "If I wanted to use Gentoo, I'd > > use FreeBSD instead." Now, I use FreeBSD. > > > > It would be nice if you actually wrote what real advantages there are to > go with *BSD instead of Gentoo or whatever. I'm actually interested > because Gentoo is my current preference for a Linux distribution but I > never had the time to play with *BSD in a meaningful way. I could write > pages about how Gentoo is very good *for me* but I don't think that > would help much... FreeBSD, among other things, tends to provide far greater system stability than Gentoo. As with a comparison with any Linux distribution, FreeBSD also presents a far greater sense of the system as an integrated whole than Gentoo, as well -- while not sacrificing significant customization options (which should be fairly obvious considering it's at heart still a source-based system). Its source-based software management is at least as easily managed as Gentoo's, and even provides more options for how you may choose to manage it (portupgrade, portmaster, et cetera), but succeeds at this while still sticking closer to its "roots" in source code compilation, as all software management within the standard Ports system can be very simply and easily handled via make, rather than layering the idiosyncratic emerge system over everything to achieve ease of management. Additionally, FreeBSD provides more extensive software archives, and the software in those archives (in the Ports tree, specifically) is generally more thoroughly tested (in other words, no "KDE is broken this week" jokes). Most system and software management is more straightforward, and while Gentoo has some of the best online documentation in the Linux world, FreeBSD documentation is the best I've ever seen -- not only because it covers pretty much every damned thing you can think of, but also because it is so incredibly well organized. The FreeBSD community may not be as extensive as what you're used to with Linux, but it is also less scattered and fractious, which means you'll probably never notice the difference in how extensive it is unless you're specifically looking for a local community. Even having been ever-more heavily involved in the more expert-oriented Linux communities in recent years, I find that short of something like the Linux kernel hackers' community or something along those lines, the average knowledge level of the FreeBSD community is greater than that of the Linux communities, too. Obviously, your mileage may vary. I speak in large part simply from personal experience. This is how it all seems to hash out from my perspective, however. > > Or am I deceived and was it simple trolling around action? It can be > quite enjoyable, but please mark it then... It wasn't intended as a troll. I just didn't really have the time or inclination to write a lengthy dissertation at the time. Hopefully I've provided a little more of the substance you wanted, now. -- CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ] McCloctnick the Lucid: "The first rule of magic is simple. Don't waste your time waving your hands and hopping when a rock or a club will do."