smoke and mirrors - any way to trick an app into thinking I'm running linux?

[Alex Zbyslaw]

Jim Stapleton wrote:

> Basically, I have an application that doesn't want to run in FreeBSD,
> though it may still run given the compatability layer. I was wondering
> if there was some way to make the OS respond when it ran the
> application, that it was linux and not BSD.
> i.e.
>
>
> ========================================
> $ ./some_app
> Sorry, we only deal with Linux people, go away!
>
> $ sysctl.pretend.register /home/me/some_app "generic-i386-linux"
> $ ./some_app
> Hello world!
> ========================================

That really rather depends on *how* the app is asking.  If you can tell 
us that, we can almost certainly tell you how to fool it.

Of course, if you have the source code, it should be easy as you can 
just comment out the test and recompile.

Mind you, if the app is as short-sighted and bloody-minded as its 
developers, maybe you should just look for an alternative.

--Alex