5 ms·

macOS shares zero lineage with Linux, which itself shares zero lineage with the UNIX derivatives. It would make zero sense for Apple to call macOS "Apple Linux"

by wpm 2y ago

macOS shares zero lineage with Linux, which itself shares zero lineage with the UNIX derivatives. It would make zero sense for Apple to call macOS "Apple Linux" when it doesn't use the Linux kernel. Mac OS X is closest to a NeXTStep box with a coat of Mac-like polish on top. Even calling it "Apple Berkeley Unix" wouldn't make sense, because the XNU kernel is a mish mash of both BSD 4.3 and the Mach kernel. Linux and the UNIX derivates are not even cousins. Not related. Not even the same species. They just both look like crabs a la https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation.

13of40 2y ago
The crabs analogy isn't a good one, because they evolve independently to play well in a common environment. GNU/Linux is a rewrite of Unix that avoids the licensing and hardware baggage that kept Unix out of reach of non-enterprise users in the 80s and early 90s.
Phiwise_ 2y ago
>OS X is closest to a NeXTStep This is already in the piece. Why waste time repeating it?
- dylan604 2y ago
  Because the person they replied to used a term like Apple Linux which is ridiculous. So somebody on the internet was wrong and needed to be corrected
  - CRConrad 2y ago
    > somebody on the internet was wrong and needed to be corrected https://xkcd.com/386/ https://xkcd.com/386/
  - Phiwise_ 2y ago
    I used it, and on purpose. If you missed why, you should go back and read again before replying.
jholman 2y ago
I used to have a coworker, a senior dev of decades of experience, who insisted that MacOS was a real Linux, "just like BSD". Sigh. Of course, this belief probably had no downsides or negative consequences, other than hurting my brain, which they probably did not regard as a significant problem.
frabbit 2y ago
Your statement seems very strong. Is Mac OS X not based on Darwin? Are you defining "lineage" in some way to only mean licensing and exclude the shared ideas (a kernel manipulating files)? Thanks for the "carcinisation" link.
- frabbit 2y ago
  To be more precise: this simplified history suggests a shared "lineage" back to the original UNIXes of all of BSDs (and hence Darwin and OSX) and of the GNU/Linux and other OSes https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/3202 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/3202 So, "zero shared lineage" seems like a very strong statement.

by wpm 2y ago

13of40 2y ago

The crabs analogy isn't a good one, because they evolve independently to play well in a common environment. GNU/Linux is a rewrite of Unix that avoids the licensing and hardware baggage that kept Unix out of reach of non-enterprise users in the 80s and early 90s.

Phiwise_ 2y ago

>OS X is closest to a NeXTStep This is already in the piece. Why waste time repeating it?

dylan604 2y ago
Because the person they replied to used a term like Apple Linux which is ridiculous. So somebody on the internet was wrong and needed to be corrected
- CRConrad 2y ago
  > somebody on the internet was wrong and needed to be corrected https://xkcd.com/386/ https://xkcd.com/386/
- Phiwise_ 2y ago
  I used it, and on purpose. If you missed why, you should go back and read again before replying.

jholman 2y ago

I used to have a coworker, a senior dev of decades of experience, who insisted that MacOS was a real Linux, "just like BSD". Sigh. Of course, this belief probably had no downsides or negative consequences, other than hurting my brain, which they probably did not regard as a significant problem.

frabbit 2y ago

Your statement seems very strong. Is Mac OS X not based on Darwin? Are you defining "lineage" in some way to only mean licensing and exclude the shared ideas (a kernel manipulating files)? Thanks for the "carcinisation" link.

frabbit 2y ago
To be more precise: this simplified history suggests a shared "lineage" back to the original UNIXes of all of BSDs (and hence Darwin and OSX) and of the GNU/Linux and other OSes https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/3202 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/3202 So, "zero shared lineage" seems like a very strong statement.