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One of the things I suppose I still couldn't get used to was just how BSD-ish[0] tools differ from GNU tools. One of the things that drove me mad was having for
by noobermin 8y ago
One of the things I suppose I still couldn't get used to was just how BSD-ish[0] tools differ from GNU tools. One of the things that drove me mad was having forgotten a switch and having to move back to the beginning of the line to add it again. Perhaps it was just me learning to be sloppy with GNU userland but it was hard and it'd always be a fresh breath of air to use Linux again.
Moreover, when things break, it's easy to fix. When things break on Mac, it's a black box. Trying to find help online is also equally frustrating. Getting help for linux issues is usually easy and informative, for example, forum posts and answers on stackoverflow-likes are detailed and generally explanatory, in which it seems like the intent is for both the askee and answerer are looking for "why" and not just "what". MacOS answers are always "copy and paste this" and half of them are obviously just plug and play or have bits that have accrued like gibberish extras in a game of telephone. Even blogposts are like this!
[0] I assume it's BSD-ish, but I wouldn't know because I've never used it. Moreover, openssh's tools act like this which catch me from time to time.
- badrabbit 8y agoEveryone(new to bsd tools) is annoyed by that. This will get me many downvotes but the BSD community embraces elitism,this is part of that "if you can't be bothered to learn your shell's shortcuts to move to the desired position immediately then you're not elite enough for bsd" or something on that line...
- asveikau 8y agoI don't know if it's elitism, but I would say using *bsds over the years has made me embrace minimalism a bit, and write shell scripts that make fewer assumptions and work in more places. There is value in that, I think. I still prefer gnu make though.
- fabiomaia 8y agoI'm interested, can you elaborate on how your shell scripts now make fewer assumptions? And why do you prefer GNU make specifically?
- userbinator 8y agoWhen things break on Mac, it's a black box. That's more attributable to Apple than BSD.
- noobermin 8y agoYes, sorry if the mention of BSD in the first paragraph implied that. I squarely place the blame on the attitude of I suppose a good chunk of those who use Macs.
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago> openssh's tools act like this which catch me from time to time. In fairness, openssh is an OpenBSD project that gets ported everywhere else.
- noobermin 8y agoYup which was my point. It always trips me up when I use it on linux but it drives me a bit too far when every tool I use on Mac works that way.