freebsd should be rewritten based on microkernel architecture

Tomasz CEDRO tomek at cedro.info
Fri Apr 17 10:47:08 UTC 2020


On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 9:16 AM kindu smith <malaizhichun at tom.com> wrote:
> First of all, freebsd's architecture is very good, no need to invent
> the wheel, but freebsd's installation interface and startup interface
> are too old. It is time to make some changes.

If you look closer and understand the approach is far more coherent,
flexible, and elegant with its minimalism. We do love the way and we
will stick to it because "it just works"^TM. If you prefer something
more fancy a Linux would be better for you - choose whatever
distribution you like, you can even start your own distribution. We do
not want to impose anything on the user, but the user is able to
customize the OS as he/she please, this "raw minimalistic approach"
gives you freedom. Please consider that deeper than just "too old" -
yes BSD is based on UNIX and we do respect the roots :-)

FreeBSD is used in various projects as the "secret OS under" the hood
that you don't have to share because BSD license allows that. For
instance Sony PlayStation 3 and 4 is based on FreeBSD and you must
admit its neither old nor obsolete. Also Netflix uses FreeBSD as its
core OS for internet services hosting. macOS and iOS is BSD Darwin.
You can build anything on BSD starting from Embedded Systems,
Multimedia Workstations, Powerful Internet Servers. This OS is just
for people with more knowledge and understanding what they do.


> I think this will be a perfect design.

Go ahead, make it happen, maybe you will gain user base and client
base for your product, if you prove these functionalities in a real
world industrial conditions I am sure FreeBSD community may consider
such option :-)


> In addition, you need to redesign the installation interface and a
> complete desktop environment, because this is very important for
> novices. I don't think Gnome / kde / xfce or the like is used anymore.
> It is designed for Linux, and the systemd it uses is not supported by
> Freebsd.

We do not _need_ to change anything, really, all changes introduced to
FreeBSD are well considered and must have some practical outcome.
Mostly these are changes coming back from the vendors that use the
FreeBSD in their own product and these products are already verified
by the real world and market conditions. Please keep in mind that
FreeBSD is a base for really lots of commercial and industrial
applications. Maintenance and stable work is the ultimate goal, even
for the new features, because your business depends on it. You cannot
simply walk in and turn things upside down every time someone have a
new idea. Sure, you can download the sources and play yourself, but
you cannot expect people to flip the OS upside down with anything that
could break backward compatibility and disturb maintenance, and most
of all introduce anything that is not verified by the real world
industrial grade conditions.

If you take a closer look this minimalistic and realistic, maybe even
conservative, long-term-focused approach is the core of the BSD. On
the other hand you have liberal Linux approach where kernel API
changes from release to release and no one really cares about
compatibility and maintenance before they start acting because they
are short-term-focused. If you want to experiment it seems like Linux
would be more suitable sandbox for you, they like such experiments and
they, we don't.

Regarding the WindowManager, again, this is up to you what you want to
install, because you are _Free_ to chose. We dont _enforce_ any
particular WM because you may also like to use the FreeBSD to run as
server. If you prefer GUI Server you can consider using Windows
Server. If you really need SystemD go ahead and use Linux, we don't
really like it here, and we don't want it here. I personally use
Enlightenment WM that also can benefit form systemd but here on
FreeBSD these options are simply not compiled in and it works just
fine :-)


> Freebsd should design a gorgeous interface comparable to macos, in
> addition to a set of init programs comparable to systemd.

It looks you are dreaming of Hybrid-OS, which is kind of utopia for
the moment. There are various OS out there and you can choose the one
that suits your needs best.. maybe different ones for different tasks.

Remember that macOS is the BSD Unix system adapted by the vendor. If
you look closer macOS uses BSD kldlstat not Linux lsmod. Also some
people consider Linux SystemD a trojan/backdoor to the system.


> Therefore,
> both the bootloader and init programs need to be redesigned.

And this will end up in the billions of $ loss because factories will
stop working :-)

Maybe the Debian_GNU kFreeBSD project would be of the interest - it
runs Debian on FreeBSD kernel - then you could prove your theory in
three simple steps:
1. Turn FreeBSD kernel into microkernel.
2. Run Debian on top of FreeBSD microkernel and get systemd.tom.
3. Run Ubuntu on top to get nice GUI installer and userland.

https://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD


> Only
> in this way can freebsd and linux form a differentiated competition,
> can freebsd survive the huge wave of linux.

FreeBSD is very well. Lots of new features that do not disturb what is
already out there in the field. The community is strong, dedicated,
and people love it for many reasons. There are people who love Linux.
"Apples and Oranges"^TM. This is the freedom of choice :-)


Best regards :-)
Tomek

-- 
CeDeROM, SQ7MHZ, http://www.tomek.cedro.info


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