Why Are You NOT Using FreeBSD ?

[Steve Franks]

I think XOrg 7.2 or 7.3 or whatever was the straw that broke the
camel's back for me, but it's just an example.  Every time libjpeg or
perl or python bumps the rev, I have to explain to my boss that I
won't be using my computer for 48 hours. You can say "don't follow the
bleeding edge", but it seems like a weekly excersise that I need some
port that wasn't built with a key option enabled, so pkg_add is really
not an answer. If you have all the freetime in the world, reading
/usr/ports/UPDATING back far enough will usually keep you out of
trouble, but for a production system, it's a touch frustrating as soon
as you touch the ports tree.

That said, having been a linux user for a couple years now, I'm
starting to think they are even worse: at least on F.B. you can
rebuild the entire system in straightforward fashion if you do need an
option that wasn't turned on, and go get a really big cup of coffee.
The linux guys (or *buntu and derivatives at least) expect you never
to upgrade a package/port unless you upgrade the whole OS (I think it
was a ploy to get everyone locked-in to the abject failure that is
gnome 3.0).  I've got systems with 3-y.o. versions of everything on
them, because there is no good way to upgrade an ap w/o upgrading the
whole system, (at least past the couple of wannabe backports that they
usually do the first year after a release.  After that, you'd better
really like the versions of everything that existed when you installed
origonally.) That aside, you can clone a linux system with dpkg really
really fast from a text list of previously installed packages (which
is, however, unnecessary on freebsd because dump/restore works so well
- never got it to clone a linux system into a functional state - so
F.B wins again).

So, conceptually and freedom-to-choose-wise, I prefer FreeBSD, it's
just that mechanically, day-to-day, it has brought my capacity to use
the computer effectively to a halt for such extended periods that I
can't often justify it on the desktop.  My server on the other hand
has been running 7.x for years, and shows no sign of giving out. Just
keep sticking new HDD's in periodically.  For a server that you rarely
add new apps to, it's stellar. Mind you, it's probably chock full of
security holes due to it's age...

I guess the bottom line is when it comes to package management, you
can't have it all, and you can rarely even have very much, and OS guys
really don't get much excitement from coding on pkg managers, so we're
gonna all be out of luck indefinitely no matter the platform.

Steve