What is the oldest BSD distribution? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- euphraties247 · 2020-08-26 10:41 It's Warner so I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be 2BSD... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2020-08-26 11:48 Spoiler: the answer is 2BSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobo1618 · 2020-08-26 11:56 Couldn't be bothered watching the video but I skimmed the transcript and he reinterpreted the question as "oldest BSD in continuous use" and said that clearly 1BSD is the oldest without that qualifier. Through some (weird to me) logic, he concludes that 2.11 BSD is the oldest BSD distribution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nielskob · 2020-08-26 12:10 I thought there are no BSD-distributions but all are distinct operating systems that are formed from some other BSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2020-08-26 12:31 2.11 BSD is still being maintained and in continuous use. That's why it rightfully wins this contest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobo1618 · 2020-08-26 13:48 Where is it still being maintained? Who is maintaining it? I did a quick search and only found [this](https://www.retro11.de/data/211bsd/patches/), which has a 7-year gap and hasn't been touched in the last 4 years. And where is it in continuous use? All I could come up with was [this](https://github.com/rricharz/pidp11-2.11bsd) and [this](https://wfjm.github.io/home/w11/), which both seem to be hobby projects aimed at reviving it rather than the continuation of any uses. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2020-08-26 13:56 See [here](https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/UCB/2.11BSD/Patc hes/) for more recent patches. It's still very much alive. Most users are small companies who for one reason or another still rely on equipment operated by PDP-11 computers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tangomikey · 2020-08-26 14:00 TIL 2.11 BSD is still maintained ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobo1618 · 2020-08-26 14:04 That still has a 7-year gap, I don't know if you can count "no patches for nearly a decade" as "continuously maintained". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2020-08-26 14:36 As far as I'm concerned the old maintainer gave up/died(?) and it took a while to find a new one up to the task. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- one_is_the_loneliest · 2020-08-26 15:02 There aren't distributions like in Linux, but each BSD is a distribution. In fact, it's in the name: **B**erkeley **S**oftware **D**istribution. So OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, etc are all Berkeley Software Distributions, but they're all also independent. They all use their own kernels and are maintained separately, but they're also all part of the BSD family/tradition. "BSD distribution" is a bit repetitive, but I don't think it's "wrong", just a bit misleading. I'd just say, "what's the oldest BSD". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- northrupthebandgeek · 2020-08-26 17:37 If you've already achieved perfection, then there will likely be very few subsequent patches. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- beowuff · 2020-08-26 17:51 Your definition of “distribution” is too narrow. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distribution Look at 1a. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobo1618 · 2020-08-26 18:07 If you already achieved perfection there wouldn't be a steady series of patches for 15 years then a sudden 7 year hole, followed by more patches. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobo1618 · 2020-08-26 18:07 That sounds reasonable but it also sounds like it wasn't continuously maintained? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- daemonpenguin · 2020-08-26 19:06 I'd like to add to this fine comment that there are also projects based on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc. For example GhostBSD takes FreeBSD, adds some desktop features and repackages it. For all practical purposes GhostBSD is a distribution of FreeBSD in the same vein as Linux distributions. The same goes for projects like FreeNAS which modify and redistribute FreeBSD. I know a lot of people in the BSD communities like to argue that the BSDs don't have "distributions" because of the way that term is often associated with Linux, which has a different development model. But, really, unless you only associate "distribution" with Linux, then the BSDs very much have distributions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- one_is_the_loneliest · 2020-08-26 19:24 Sure, but there is a useful difference. However, most users don't care and it's more informative to say that they're all distributions of each other (there's lots of code sharing) instead of making the point, especially since Linux distributions can vary just as much, if not more, than BSD distributions (e.g. Alpine Linux doesn't use GNU, and RTLinux uses it's own microkernel and runs the rest of the Linux OS in a preemptive userspace process). So yeah, I think BSD folk are a little too eager to make the distinction, especially since it only really matters if you're a BSD developer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LukeShu · 2020-08-27 02:31 I like to say that there's no such thing as a BSD distribution like there's no such thing as an ATM machine.