Morning, Ross. How's tricks?

1) Why is the IP stack rumored to be better? In all my Linux time, IP has been utterly faultless. All those net servers can't be too wrong...

It was actually the fastest IP stack in the West. Nothing beat it. 2.2 and 2.4 brought Linux on par.

2) What is your actual opinion, in detail, about BSD?

Technically, it's a fine system. I have religious issues with BSD init, but that's purely a matter of opinion and what you're brought up on.

It's the implementation details and lack of system metadata that stymie me, every time I revisit FreeBSD.

1. The Ports/Packages dichotomy. BSD binary packages are not in the same database as software you install from ports. Yes, you can make a package from ports, but that sorta defeats the object of packages. Anyone who says "source 4 life" can go compile OpenOffice.org or GNOME.

2. The Base System/Everything Else dichotomy. In BSD, the actual thing called "FreeBSD" is really quite small; the kernel, the main toolchain and a few other bits and pieces. Packages/ports are not considered part of FreeBSD. While there are valid reasons for doing this (it cuts down the amount of stuff the core team have to do), it does leave packages/ports in a QA limbo. By contrast, all packages in Debian are subject to the same QA process; this makes the system consistent and deterministic.

2a. As a consequence of Everything Else not being part of BSD, it's considered to be "site local". Site local stuff goes in /usr/local. So your MTA is in /usr/local. By contrast, Debian considers /usr/local to be Out Of Bounds. It's your place to stash your shee.

3. Debian has a multitude of little things that make my life as an administrator easier. The alternatives system. Tools like deborphan. Metapackages. Debconf. None of this stuff exists in FreeBSD, and hence it feels very raw to me.

That's about it, really. I'm not going to say that FreeBSD is better or worse than Linux, because it isn't. It's different, and those differences make it unusable for me.

Edit: Forgot my manners.