27 Years with the Perfect OS

If you are a longtime FreeBSD user, you probably know everything I have to say, and, what’s more, you can probably add a few more points. But hopefully, there will be some Linux or even Windows users among readers who might learn something new!

FreeBSD is not just a kernel but a complete operating system. It has everything to boot and use the system: networking utilities, text editors, development tools and more. Why is that a big deal? Well, because all these components are developed together, they work perfectly together! And a well-polished system is also easier to document. One of my favorite pieces of documentation is the FreeBSD Handbook which covers most of the operating system and is (most of the time) up to date.

Of course, not everything can be integrated into the base operating system, and this is where FreeBSD ports and packages can be useful. The ports system allows a clean separation of the base system and third-party software which allows you to install third-party software on top of a FreeBSD base system. There are tens of thousands ready-to-use software packages to choose from. For example, all the graphical desktop applications are in ports, just as various web servers or more up-to-date development tools.

You can read the rest of my article in the FreeBSD Journal at https://issue.freebsdfoundation.org/publication/?m=33057&i=733207&p=14&ver=html5

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