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While this is true, I think a more subtle reason to support Linux is the open-source scripts devs setup that may be mission critical. I work in a bioinformatic

While this is true, I think a more subtle reason to support Linux is the open-source scripts devs setup that may be mission critical. I work in a bioinformatics lab, and I access Dropbox through the command prompt and do a lot of file cleanup through scripts for dozens of researchers, which is impossible on Windows or Apple. This BTRFS reversal last year was a nightmare for everyone's research even though I'm the only one who uses Linux.

AceJohnny2 7y ago
> which is impossible on [..] Apple. Out of curiosity, why is that? macOS does provide a Unix environment and Bash & Zsh shells. (and Homebrew or MacPorts are package managers that can provide updated versions of whatever)
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  Windows, what about PowerShell? I've not used it extensively, but have heard good things. Or just use Python across all three platforms?
  - VeninVidiaVicii 7y ago
    Honestly it's not really feasible to use Python when basic Linux tools like comm, or dos2linux, which take literally just a few characters, recreating the functionality in Python would be a headache.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      Yeah, I don' really know hey, I'm just a metal fabricator by trade. My point was more generally about: surely tools exist on the different operating system to achieve similar outcomes?
- VeninVidiaVicii 7y ago
  I suppose it's possible in the sense that anything is possible. But, in my experience, Mac versions of Linux tools are not A) Posix compliant, B) outdated, C) don't have the exact same functionality, and/or D) Abandoned. I use Linux because the scripts are easily moved between the cluster computers and my computers, but I suppose YMMV
  - acdha 7y ago
    > But, in my experience, Mac versions of Linux tools are not A) Posix compliant, B) outdated, C) don't have the exact same functionality, and/or D) Abandoned. You’d definitely want to use Hombrew: you can get the GNU utilities instead of the BSD ones Apple tends to ship, at the latest versions, and it’s a single command to update everything.

AceJohnny2 7y ago

> which is impossible on [..] Apple. Out of curiosity, why is that? macOS does provide a Unix environment and Bash & Zsh shells. (and Homebrew or MacPorts are package managers that can provide updated versions of whatever)

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
Windows, what about PowerShell? I've not used it extensively, but have heard good things. Or just use Python across all three platforms?
- VeninVidiaVicii 7y ago
  Honestly it's not really feasible to use Python when basic Linux tools like comm, or dos2linux, which take literally just a few characters, recreating the functionality in Python would be a headache.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    Yeah, I don' really know hey, I'm just a metal fabricator by trade. My point was more generally about: surely tools exist on the different operating system to achieve similar outcomes?
VeninVidiaVicii 7y ago
I suppose it's possible in the sense that anything is possible. But, in my experience, Mac versions of Linux tools are not A) Posix compliant, B) outdated, C) don't have the exact same functionality, and/or D) Abandoned. I use Linux because the scripts are easily moved between the cluster computers and my computers, but I suppose YMMV
- acdha 7y ago
  > But, in my experience, Mac versions of Linux tools are not A) Posix compliant, B) outdated, C) don't have the exact same functionality, and/or D) Abandoned. You’d definitely want to use Hombrew: you can get the GNU utilities instead of the BSD ones Apple tends to ship, at the latest versions, and it’s a single command to update everything.