What is the difference between Linux and BSD?

Linux and BSD are free, open source, Unix-like systems. They even use a lot of the same software. They look like an operating system
, so what is the difference?

In fact, the difference between the two goes far beyond what we mentioned below, especially in the philosophical thinking of building a complete operating system and licensing. This essay will give you a quick idea of ​​the differences between them.

Basic

Many people say that "Linux" is not actually Linux. Linux is technically just a Linux kernel, and a typical Linux distribution includes the Linux kernel and a lot of software. This is why Linux is sometimes called GNU/Linux. In fact, many of the software used on Linux is also used on BSD.

Linux and BSD are both UNIX-like operating systems. We can see that Linux and BSD have different pedigrees by reading the history of UNIX-like operating systems. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds when he was in Finland. BSD stands for "Berkeley Software Distribution, Berkeley Software Suite", which originated from a series of modifications to Bell Labs UNIX developed by the University of California at Berkeley. It eventually evolved into a complete operating system, now with many different BSD branch.

full operating system kernel vs.

Strictly speaking, Linux is just a kernel. The job of making a Linux distribution is to bring together all the software needed to create a complete Linux operating system and combine it into a Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, RedHat or Arch. There are many different Linux distributions.

In contrast, the name BSD stands for its kernel and operating system. For example, FreeBSD provides the FreeBSD kernel and the FreeBSD operating system. It is maintained as a single project. In other words, if you want to install FreeBSD, there is only one FreeBSD available for you to install. If you want to install Linux, you first need to choose between many Linux distributions.

BSD includes a system called Ports that provides a way to install packages. The Ports system contains the source code for the packages, so if your computer wants to install the software, you need to compile them first. (If you've used Gentoo, which used to be popular, it's a bit like that.) However, packages can also be pre-installed in binary form so that you can run them without having to spend time and system resources compiling them.

license

licenses are typical of the differences, although it will not have an impact on most people. Linux uses the GNU General Public License, the GPL. If you modify the Linux kernel and distribute it, you must release the source code of your changes.

BSD uses a BSD license. If you modify the BSD kernel or distribution and publish it, you don't need to have to publish its source code at all. You are free to do whatever you want with your BSD code. You are not obligated to release the source code of your changes. Of course you want to post it.

Both are open source, but in a different way. People sometimes get caught up in the debate about which license is “more free”. The GPL can help users ensure that they have the source code for the GPL software and restrict developers from forcing them to open the code. A BSD license does not guarantee that the user can own the source code, but rather gives the developer the right to choose whether to advertise the code, even if they want to turn it into a closed source project.

BSD Branch

The following are the three commonly recognized "mainstream" BSD operating systems: