why no Oracle on FreeBSD ?

[Steve Bertrand]

Saifi Khan wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Sep 2009, Julian H. Stacey wrote:
> 
>>>>> i noticed that there is no Oracle available for FreeBSD
>>>>> http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html
>>>>>
>>>>> What could be the reason for that ?
>>>> Best ask direct of commercial application vendor Oracle.
>>>> IE wave money under Oracle's nose & ask to purchase what you want.
>>>>
>>>> If Oracle think there's enough profit in it, there's many BSD
>>>> consultants eg http://berklix.com/consultants/ willing to work.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Julian
>>>> -- 
>>> i was wondering if there is any technical reason behind this ?
>> Most unlikely. Ask Oracle & tell advocacy@ what you find out.
>> I'd bet perceived market share & demand as ever, ie Money.
>>
> 
> Hi Julian:
> 
> Here is the response on the Oracle forum thread to my posting,
> 
> 
> """
> FreeBSD is a kernel not used in any extant operating system with
> the sole exception being Apple's Mac OSX so you are heading,
> full speed ahead, toward disappointment. FreeBSD handles many
> things very differently from the UNIX System 5 standard so you
> can not just kludge your way into this.
> 
> What fascinates me about your request is why you care. FreeBSD
> is going nowhere at a staggeringly fast pace. And to the same
> place as went Oracle Database version 8.0. Obscurity.
> 
> Install Oracle's Enterprise Linux and you will have a real
> operating system in less time than you've spent monitoring this
> thead. And as an additional value it will support the Oracle
> technology stack while you are still young enough to use it.
> """
> 
> and
> """
> IF you can match up the system calls, then you can 'make it
> work'. 
> """
> 
> The relevant  links are
> 1.  http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=952076&tstart=0
> 2.  http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=952076&tstart=0 
> 
> The response seems to suggest that there is some feature used by
> Oracle which is expected from a UNIX Sys 5 std and perhaps
> FreeBSD does not support/have the syscall.
> 
> Given the response, What is your analysis of the situation ?

That whoever wrote that post is very closed minded, has no problem
condemning something prior to investigation, and perhaps wears a pair of
glasses that only come in one shade.

It makes me very proud to be a member of this great community, where the
attitude is more 'get the job done with whatever tool suits the task',
as opposed to 'if you don't use this, then forget it'.

I completely and utterly disagree with the claims made in that post.
I've been using FreeBSD for nearly 10 years, and I vouch for the fact
that FreeBSD has made huge strides during that time. Not only is the OS
mature, but so are the people who write it, maintain it, and advocate it.

Was about to add 'defend it' to the last sentence there, but it's not
even necessary. FreeBSD's track record, and the fact that it's used in
the most critical of infrastructures proves that FreeBSD merrily holds
it's own water, without a word ever needing to be spoken.

Steve
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