5 ms·

I'm curious: For the applications at CERN, would BSD really make much difference to Linux?

sp332 14y ago
BSD kernels generally do not have such good support for hard real time applications. It's been done though, so I don't know if it would have a real impact.
- Mvandenbergh 14y ago
  No need for hard real time, first level detector output goes through FPGAs which only pass potentially interesting data to the Linux powered systems which do further data filtering.
obtu 14y ago
It would be harder maintaining a large collection of software outside of one of the major Linux distros. Debian/kFreeBSD might have a chance thanks to the GNU userland, but the archive is less well supported than with the Linux kernel.
- flatline3 14y ago
  Why do you say that?
- ryanjkirk 14y ago
  Quite the opposite. This isn't about the userland, it's about the kernel. The linux kernel is where the high-performance cluster computing advances have been. The GNU userland is just a clone of the BSD userland, nothing special there. Moreover, FreeBSD and OpenBSD's packages are diverse, well-maintained, and current. But neither OS's userland nor any of their packaging systems have anything to do with high-performance cluster computing.
lumberjack 14y ago
I may be wrong but they probably have a support contract with RHEL or similiar or they are using a sponsored distribution that caters to their specific needs such as Scientific Linux. I don't know if similiar projects/teams exist for BSD distros.
- dfc 14y ago
  I doubt CERN has a formal run of the mill support contract with RH like other large organizations. Scientific Linux is developed (in-house) in partnership with Fermilab.[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux
  - dchest 14y ago
    They use RHEL too: http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/rhel/ http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/rhel/ For offical usage in the context of Oracle production databases and eventually other applications requiring commercial support there is a limited number of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server licenses available at CERN. For all other tasks standard CERN Linux distribution: Scientific Linux CERN shall be used.
- srl 14y ago
  IIRC, scientific linux is maintained by CERN itself.

sp332 14y ago

BSD kernels generally do not have such good support for hard real time applications. It's been done though, so I don't know if it would have a real impact.

Mvandenbergh 14y ago
No need for hard real time, first level detector output goes through FPGAs which only pass potentially interesting data to the Linux powered systems which do further data filtering.

obtu 14y ago

It would be harder maintaining a large collection of software outside of one of the major Linux distros. Debian/kFreeBSD might have a chance thanks to the GNU userland, but the archive is less well supported than with the Linux kernel.

flatline3 14y ago
Why do you say that?
ryanjkirk 14y ago
Quite the opposite. This isn't about the userland, it's about the kernel. The linux kernel is where the high-performance cluster computing advances have been. The GNU userland is just a clone of the BSD userland, nothing special there. Moreover, FreeBSD and OpenBSD's packages are diverse, well-maintained, and current. But neither OS's userland nor any of their packaging systems have anything to do with high-performance cluster computing.

lumberjack 14y ago

I may be wrong but they probably have a support contract with RHEL or similiar or they are using a sponsored distribution that caters to their specific needs such as Scientific Linux. I don't know if similiar projects/teams exist for BSD distros.

dfc 14y ago
I doubt CERN has a formal run of the mill support contract with RH like other large organizations. Scientific Linux is developed (in-house) in partnership with Fermilab.[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux
- dchest 14y ago
  They use RHEL too: http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/rhel/ http://linux.web.cern.ch/linux/rhel/ For offical usage in the context of Oracle production databases and eventually other applications requiring commercial support there is a limited number of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server licenses available at CERN. For all other tasks standard CERN Linux distribution: Scientific Linux CERN shall be used.
srl 14y ago
IIRC, scientific linux is maintained by CERN itself.