- Stable OS coupled with rolling packages. I am on the previous FreeBSD version (14.3-RELEASE, while 15 is out) but I have the very latest KDE.
- A ports collection where you can recompile packages whenever you're not happy with the default settings. Strict separation between packages and core OS. Everything that is from packages is in /usr/local (and this separation is also what makes the above point possible).
- ZFS on root as first-class citizen. Really great. It has some really nice side tooling too like sanoid/syncoid and bectl (the latter is part of the core OS even).
- jails for isolation (I don't really use it like docker for portability and trying things out)
- Clear documentation because there are no different distros. Very good handbook. I like the rc.conf idea.
- Common sense mentality, not constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. I don't have to learn a new init system and I can still use ifconfig. Things just work without constantly being poked around.
- Not much corporate messing around with the OS. Most of the linux patches come from big tech now and are often related to their goals (e.g. cloud compatibility). I don't care about those things and I prefer something developed by and for users, not corporate suits. No corporates trying to push their IP onto the users (e.g. canonical with their Mir, snaps etc)
- Not the same thing as everyone else has. I'm not a team player, I hate going with the flow. I accept that sometimes comes with stuff to figure out or work around.
ZFS boot+root on Linux is amazing as well. It's kind of sad to see Linux Mint has moved away from supporting this in their installer, but it probably could still be done manually I guess. After upgrade, if something goes wrong? zfs rollback both to a snapshot made just before the upgrade and reboot.
I don't use freebsd full time, only in a VM, but all these things sound positive to me.
*everything. I've really been using it since 4.x. Imagine this: being able to upgrade a system in-place with freebsd-update from minor to major to minor version without everything breaking or having to say a prayer before. And that's just one thing I love about it. Clear separation of userland (/usr/local/etc), rock-solid stability in networking, zfs on root.
I had to do 'bonded' interfaces on Debian the other day. It's what, 5 different config files depending on which 'network manager' you use. In FreeBSD it's 5 lines in /etc/rc.conf and you're done.
And don't even get me started on betting which distribution (ahem CentOS) will go away next.
I actually laughed out loud. Try upgrading CentOS to Rocky vs FreeBSD 11 to 15 ( that's FOUR major versions from 2017 I think ), and tell me again how good it is.
In LTS environments where I need to upgrade OS's, FreeBSD is a no-brainer.
> I actually laughed out loud. Try upgrading CentOS to Rocky vs FreeBSD 11 to 15 ( that's FOUR major versions from 2017 I think ), and tell me again how good it is.
I laughed out loud, there is no in-place upgrade mechanism for that in those distros and never has been, that is the nature of those distros. They release patch/security updates until they go EOL, which is measured in units closer to decades than years.
I don’t have a problem with BSDs. That’s cool you like upgrading in place.
The best and most laugh-inducing part of your whole point is that centos now not only allows you to do in-place upgrades, that’s the whole fucking point.
So then what's the point of mentioning Rocky as CentOS's successor ? In what way is it 'succeeding' ? That you can do a fresh install of Rocky ? And those stuck on CentOS can't upgrade ? Really useful those decades of support if your distro goes belly up
You don’t know this ecosystem, clearly. I’m not going to explain it to you much more than I did.
Centos was the free version of red hat. Like redhat, centos never fucking ever offered in-place upgrades. Centos moved to stream as a sandbox for redhat, and rocky took over as the free redhat.
Ask an LLM or something, this level of ignorance is unbecoming.
I love several things about it:
- Stable OS coupled with rolling packages. I am on the previous FreeBSD version (14.3-RELEASE, while 15 is out) but I have the very latest KDE.
- A ports collection where you can recompile packages whenever you're not happy with the default settings. Strict separation between packages and core OS. Everything that is from packages is in /usr/local (and this separation is also what makes the above point possible).
- ZFS on root as first-class citizen. Really great. It has some really nice side tooling too like sanoid/syncoid and bectl (the latter is part of the core OS even).
- jails for isolation (I don't really use it like docker for portability and trying things out)
- Clear documentation because there are no different distros. Very good handbook. I like the rc.conf idea.
- Common sense mentality, not constantly trying to reinvent the wheel. I don't have to learn a new init system and I can still use ifconfig. Things just work without constantly being poked around.
- Not much corporate messing around with the OS. Most of the linux patches come from big tech now and are often related to their goals (e.g. cloud compatibility). I don't care about those things and I prefer something developed by and for users, not corporate suits. No corporates trying to push their IP onto the users (e.g. canonical with their Mir, snaps etc)
- Not the same thing as everyone else has. I'm not a team player, I hate going with the flow. I accept that sometimes comes with stuff to figure out or work around.
I think that's about it.
ZFS boot+root on Linux is amazing as well. It's kind of sad to see Linux Mint has moved away from supporting this in their installer, but it probably could still be done manually I guess. After upgrade, if something goes wrong? zfs rollback both to a snapshot made just before the upgrade and reboot.
I don't use freebsd full time, only in a VM, but all these things sound positive to me.
*everything. I've really been using it since 4.x. Imagine this: being able to upgrade a system in-place with freebsd-update from minor to major to minor version without everything breaking or having to say a prayer before. And that's just one thing I love about it. Clear separation of userland (/usr/local/etc), rock-solid stability in networking, zfs on root.
I had to do 'bonded' interfaces on Debian the other day. It's what, 5 different config files depending on which 'network manager' you use. In FreeBSD it's 5 lines in /etc/rc.conf and you're done.
And don't even get me started on betting which distribution (ahem CentOS) will go away next.
Centos didn’t go away. It changed. Rocky (et. al.) took the old centos role, and I see this as a win/win for everybody.
Ubuntu is the disaster Linux distro, I won’t touch Ubuntu if I have any other option.
I actually laughed out loud. Try upgrading CentOS to Rocky vs FreeBSD 11 to 15 ( that's FOUR major versions from 2017 I think ), and tell me again how good it is.
In LTS environments where I need to upgrade OS's, FreeBSD is a no-brainer.
> I actually laughed out loud. Try upgrading CentOS to Rocky vs FreeBSD 11 to 15 ( that's FOUR major versions from 2017 I think ), and tell me again how good it is.
I laughed out loud, there is no in-place upgrade mechanism for that in those distros and never has been, that is the nature of those distros. They release patch/security updates until they go EOL, which is measured in units closer to decades than years.
I don’t have a problem with BSDs. That’s cool you like upgrading in place.
The best and most laugh-inducing part of your whole point is that centos now not only allows you to do in-place upgrades, that’s the whole fucking point.
So then what's the point of mentioning Rocky as CentOS's successor ? In what way is it 'succeeding' ? That you can do a fresh install of Rocky ? And those stuck on CentOS can't upgrade ? Really useful those decades of support if your distro goes belly up
You don’t know this ecosystem, clearly. I’m not going to explain it to you much more than I did.
Centos was the free version of red hat. Like redhat, centos never fucking ever offered in-place upgrades. Centos moved to stream as a sandbox for redhat, and rocky took over as the free redhat.
Ask an LLM or something, this level of ignorance is unbecoming.