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BSD had always several advantages over other open source systems which are widely available... I think the number of advantages and shortcomings didn't really c

BSD had always several advantages over other open source systems which are widely available... I think the number of advantages and shortcomings didn't really change over the time but if you want to discuss WHY it is becoming NOW a more popular choice, my personal guess is: - The state of the art of Ops and information in internet makes that today anyone with some curiosity can understand and start modifying/administrating tools and systems which decades ago was only possible for specialists in the area. - Truly cross compatible source code and runtimes are widely available (not just C code that has to be compiled in the target architecture like in the old times.) - With the raise of open information now technical choices can be made contrasting the experience from other teams or companies which made similar choices in the past.

rleigh 10y ago
Could another contributing factor be that Linux is becoming less appropriate for embedded use? In the mid 2000s, I developed an embedded system for my employer based on Debian, cut right down and with our software started directly from inittab, set to respawn (we could have replaced init entirely with a bit more work). With stuff like systemd in the mainstream, Linux userspace is increasingly opinionated and desktop-centric. It takes time and effort to strip out stuff you don't want, particularly when it's increasingly enforced and you have to do custom builds. In comparison the BSDs are easy to build with customisations, including the ports I might need. While I no longer do embedded stuff, I do wonder what it's like with the current state of Linux.