Namespace clashes

[rfunk]

I'm sitting here at the Hyatt Regency Columbus at the second Ohio LinuxFest, and so far the most interesting talk was about Security-Enhanced Linux. But it wasn't interesting only for the obvious reasons; it was also interesting because it reminded me of some mildly annoying namespace clashes in technology:

When someone mentions "MAC", it could be a reference to:
- An Apple Macintosh
- Medium Access Control on an ethernet network, or the hardware address used in that protocol
- Mandatory Access Control security

Then we also have:
- eMacs, the type of Apple computers
and
- Emacs, the "extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time display editor."


I've also learned enough about FreeBSD here that I might give that another try; the last time I tried it was in the late 90s with version 3.something.

Comments

[stega.livejournal.com]

come away from the dark side--FreeBSD is so sexy

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

oh, but debian has apt-get dist-upgrade.


Best part of the conference was the irc heckling during talks.

[stega.livejournal.com]

FreeBSD has the ports collection and cvsup.

FreeBSD

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

I have mixed feelings about compiling everything from source to do upgrades. On a server it requires having the compile toolchain available rather than deleted for safety, and on a desktop it requires some really long compiles, such as for KDE. (I assume cvsup speeds the update of the actual code; "cvs update" can take forever on a huge tree.)

On the other hand, it does make custom code changes a little more straightforward.

I'm still not clear on how ports are upgraded. My OpenBSD experience with them was that they're great on first installation, but a pain when anything needs to be upgraded.

Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you about FreeBSD anyway (for servers), since I know you're a fan and I trust your opinion.

Re: FreeBSD

[silicon-mayhem.livejournal.com]

portupgrade.
http://www.freebsddiary.org/portupgrade.php

Re: FreeBSD

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll take a look. Got your battery charged up again? :-)

Re: FreeBSD

[silicon-mayhem.livejournal.com]

Yup. I'll be smarter next time, and bring an adapter.

Re: FreeBSD

[stega.livejournal.com]

I would run FreeBSD on a box before anything else (except for in a desktop env--as for that I like OS X) Currently I have two FreeBSD boxes that are part of the purgatory cluster. I don't actually admin them, but a third machine is due to come online if I ever get around to building a new kernel for it, and that one is going to be the main log repository/processing site. When I was in hell...errr...PGP, everything I built for them was on FreeBSD. The servers were very solid.

[braider.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'll not be at Ren Faire tomorrow (Sunday) after all. If you're still in town, want to get together sometime before you head home?

Sunday

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

We're planning to head to the south oval of OSU (just north of W 12th Ave, just west of the Ohio Union and College Rd) for the Columbus Pagan Pride Day event. Wanna meet us there? We can't stick around in Columbus past 4ish.