6 ms·

Does BSD have a packet system like APT? How about troubleshooting? I guess there is way less info out there than in Linux.

kryptiskt 8y ago
FreeBSD has the pkg package manager. There is also a ports system if you want to build from source. There's no shortage of info or places to seek help about BSDs on the net, FreeBSD has an active forum at https://forums.freebsd.org https://forums.freebsd.org
- trasz 8y ago
  Note that those two are not really disjoint - packages are built from ports; ports are a bit like source packages in the Linux world.
  - floatboth 8y ago
    deb/rpm source packages are a bit weird. AUR and Gentoo Portage are very closely inspired by Ports though.
zozbot123 8y ago
The only resource you need is here: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ This is the first and only resource you have to hit when the question is: "how do I do that in FreeBSD?" Section 4. answers your second question. There is no less information about BSD than "Linux", it is simply that BSD has no advertisement or companies behind pushing it...
- ChuckMcM 8y ago
  The handbook is also part of the 'refreshing' part of using this system. Lots of documentation even for the more obscure parts (not saying that package management is obscure though)
- siffland 8y ago
  "There is no less information about BSD than "Linux", it is simply that BSD has no advertisement or companies behind pushing it.." Which is ironic since huge companies like netflix, sony, citrix, netapp and others make appliances based on FreeBSD and contribute a ton of code (Note, i am not at all disagreeing with your statement, i just find it ironic). IX Systems does push behind it a lot and does advertise it: https://www.ixsystems.com https://www.ixsystems.com I have heard people complain because the handbook needs updating in some areas, but to be fair it is an open source handbook and people can make submissions to help make it better.
  - zozbot123 8y ago
    Maybe I am wrong, but as far as I remember IXsystems is pushing TrueOS and some other appliances like FreeNas. My point was simply aiming to underline that there is no analogue of RHEL or Centos in the BSD world. If you decide to endorse BSD you know you are on your own and you have to contribute to the project. The BSD license seems a bit more appealing to this huge giants than the GNU one. Fixing bugs and contributing to the code base is the reason why I love the project. For purely educational reasons you can learn more in 5 minutes using BSD, than in 10 years with Ubuntu (what is it that one learns with Ubuntu actually?). The handbook is just awesome. If people complain about it, it is just because they never looked at how documentation is written in the average in computer science (is software documented at all?).
Koshkin 8y ago
To be fair, there is very little difference between Linux and BSDs these days, and the choice between them is mostly the matter of personal preference. Yes, Linux is more popular and enjoys somewhat better support by third-party vendors (which could in some cases be limited to a small set of distributions), which is why it is usually a safe choice; otherwise there not much reason to choose one over another.
- siffland 8y ago
  FreeBSD is an entire operating system. Linux is just a kernel used in hundreds of different distros. It is correct that they are both UNIX like derivatives. FreeBSD is based on the BSD license, Linux on the GPL (this is important if you want to make something proprietary, like the PS4). Most major Linux distros have different package managers and you download binary updates. They supply their own kernel with backports and custom compiled to stay in sync with the rest of their userland. In FreeBSD the kernel and userland are in sync so you dont have this issue. Linux has better driver support due to more exposure to hardware. You can go one for quite a while about how different they are, so they are very different. But you are right it is user preference. (I excluded systemd and init to avoid a holy war)
  - Koshkin 8y ago
    > Linux is just a kernel Well, this mantra is really getting old - because when people say "Linux" they almost never talk about Linux-the-kernel. Which is also why, for instance, nobody calls Android "Linux", but when referring to Ubuntu, Slackware, etc., they do.
    - umanwizard 8y ago
      You are misunderstanding. It actually makes a huge difference. Let's compare apples to apples: Ubuntu vs. FreeBSD. In Ubuntu there is a kernel made by one group (the Linux project), a bunch of userland tools and C compiler made by another group (the GNU project), desktop environment made by the GNOME project, etc. etc. Whereas FreeBSD is just FreeBSD. It is one project, in one source tree, maintained by one group of people. (The biggest exception to this is the C compiler -- it is a third-party project which gets imported into the main tree. But that's a minor thing compared to Ubuntu which does this for everything.)
clan 8y ago
As others mention there is PKG (and ports). The important thing is however that even though there might be less info it is much more consistent! It is even so old fashioned that you can work without Internet how-to's - it is all there in the "man" pages.
Nux 8y ago
It has something, but nowhere near apt/yum. Troubleshooting is fine, it's a good OS with a great range of tools at your disposal.
pbalau 8y ago
bsd is a family of operating systems, not one. I'm going to answer based on FreeBSD, the system I have more experience with. 1) yes it does, both as source and as binaries (and the same for the base system itself) 2) not sure what you mean, but... (see next answer) 3) https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ and the man pages. Back in 2000s, the FreeBSD handbook was the best documentation for unix based systems. I could bet a fiver this is still the case.
ori_b 8y ago
1) https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/pkgng-intro.html https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/pkgng-intro.html 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfctgb1mfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfctgb1mfM

kryptiskt 8y ago

FreeBSD has the pkg package manager. There is also a ports system if you want to build from source. There's no shortage of info or places to seek help about BSDs on the net, FreeBSD has an active forum at https://forums.freebsd.org https://forums.freebsd.org

trasz 8y ago
Note that those two are not really disjoint - packages are built from ports; ports are a bit like source packages in the Linux world.
- floatboth 8y ago
  deb/rpm source packages are a bit weird. AUR and Gentoo Portage are very closely inspired by Ports though.

zozbot123 8y ago

The only resource you need is here: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ This is the first and only resource you have to hit when the question is: "how do I do that in FreeBSD?" Section 4. answers your second question. There is no less information about BSD than "Linux", it is simply that BSD has no advertisement or companies behind pushing it...

ChuckMcM 8y ago
The handbook is also part of the 'refreshing' part of using this system. Lots of documentation even for the more obscure parts (not saying that package management is obscure though)
siffland 8y ago
"There is no less information about BSD than "Linux", it is simply that BSD has no advertisement or companies behind pushing it.." Which is ironic since huge companies like netflix, sony, citrix, netapp and others make appliances based on FreeBSD and contribute a ton of code (Note, i am not at all disagreeing with your statement, i just find it ironic). IX Systems does push behind it a lot and does advertise it: https://www.ixsystems.com https://www.ixsystems.com I have heard people complain because the handbook needs updating in some areas, but to be fair it is an open source handbook and people can make submissions to help make it better.
- zozbot123 8y ago
  Maybe I am wrong, but as far as I remember IXsystems is pushing TrueOS and some other appliances like FreeNas. My point was simply aiming to underline that there is no analogue of RHEL or Centos in the BSD world. If you decide to endorse BSD you know you are on your own and you have to contribute to the project. The BSD license seems a bit more appealing to this huge giants than the GNU one. Fixing bugs and contributing to the code base is the reason why I love the project. For purely educational reasons you can learn more in 5 minutes using BSD, than in 10 years with Ubuntu (what is it that one learns with Ubuntu actually?). The handbook is just awesome. If people complain about it, it is just because they never looked at how documentation is written in the average in computer science (is software documented at all?).

Koshkin 8y ago

To be fair, there is very little difference between Linux and BSDs these days, and the choice between them is mostly the matter of personal preference. Yes, Linux is more popular and enjoys somewhat better support by third-party vendors (which could in some cases be limited to a small set of distributions), which is why it is usually a safe choice; otherwise there not much reason to choose one over another.

siffland 8y ago
FreeBSD is an entire operating system. Linux is just a kernel used in hundreds of different distros. It is correct that they are both UNIX like derivatives. FreeBSD is based on the BSD license, Linux on the GPL (this is important if you want to make something proprietary, like the PS4). Most major Linux distros have different package managers and you download binary updates. They supply their own kernel with backports and custom compiled to stay in sync with the rest of their userland. In FreeBSD the kernel and userland are in sync so you dont have this issue. Linux has better driver support due to more exposure to hardware. You can go one for quite a while about how different they are, so they are very different. But you are right it is user preference. (I excluded systemd and init to avoid a holy war)
- Koshkin 8y ago
  > Linux is just a kernel Well, this mantra is really getting old - because when people say "Linux" they almost never talk about Linux-the-kernel. Which is also why, for instance, nobody calls Android "Linux", but when referring to Ubuntu, Slackware, etc., they do.
  - umanwizard 8y ago
    You are misunderstanding. It actually makes a huge difference. Let's compare apples to apples: Ubuntu vs. FreeBSD. In Ubuntu there is a kernel made by one group (the Linux project), a bunch of userland tools and C compiler made by another group (the GNU project), desktop environment made by the GNOME project, etc. etc. Whereas FreeBSD is just FreeBSD. It is one project, in one source tree, maintained by one group of people. (The biggest exception to this is the C compiler -- it is a third-party project which gets imported into the main tree. But that's a minor thing compared to Ubuntu which does this for everything.)

clan 8y ago

As others mention there is PKG (and ports). The important thing is however that even though there might be less info it is much more consistent! It is even so old fashioned that you can work without Internet how-to's - it is all there in the "man" pages.

Nux 8y ago

It has something, but nowhere near apt/yum. Troubleshooting is fine, it's a good OS with a great range of tools at your disposal.

pbalau 8y ago

bsd is a family of operating systems, not one. I'm going to answer based on FreeBSD, the system I have more experience with. 1) yes it does, both as source and as binaries (and the same for the base system itself) 2) not sure what you mean, but... (see next answer) 3) https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/ and the man pages. Back in 2000s, the FreeBSD handbook was the best documentation for unix based systems. I could bet a fiver this is still the case.

ori_b 8y ago

1) https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/pkgng-intro.html https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/pkgng-intro.html 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfctgb1mfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfctgb1mfM