Subject: Re: Why did NetBSD and FreeBSD diverge?
To: Pedro F. Giffuni <pfg1+@pitt.edu>
From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
List: netbsd-advocacy
Date: 01/19/2001 12:27:15
At 10:31 PM -0500 2001/1/18, Pedro F. Giffuni wrote:
> Having three BSD camps has been great...did you notice that NetBSD's
> development spurred when OpenBSD was created?? Maybe it's the time for
> a unified "Free" BSD, maybe not.
What I see that is actually happening is that each project is
taking code and concepts from the other two projects (and re-working
them as needed), as they have needs and interests that permit/require
them to do so. So, as FreeBSD becomes more portable, it takes stuff
from NetBSD and then does some re-working. As NetBSD becomes more
powerful (e.g., adding SMP), they take code from FreeBSD and then do
some re-working. As either FreeBSD or NetBSD become more secure,
they rummage around through the OpenBSD code to see what can be
re-used.
So, over time, these three projects are continuing to
cross-pollinate with each other, and ultimately some time in the
distant future, you may very well see the resulting hybrid get so
close, and after a number of the original players have either retired
or changed their more radical views over the years, you may actually
see a point where the core people agree that it no longer makes sense
to keep the projects separate, and there is essentially a vote taken
(and won) to agree to fully merge what little is left.
However, I don't see this happening on a fast time table. I
think we're probably talking about another ten to twenty years, at
least.
--
These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy
======================================================================
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>