Subject: Re: BSD == NIH
To: None <current-users@netbsd.org>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@most.weird.com>
List: current-users
Date: 03/21/1999 23:39:35
[ On Sunday, March 21, 1999 at 20:13:35 (-0800), John Nemeth wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: BSD == NIH
>
> On Mar 20, 12:54am, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> } 
> } And 174 files plus 20 sub-directories in NetBSD (by the time you add a
> 
>      Where did you find that many files?  I was only talking about the
> base OS (in particular stuff having to do with system startup).

# find /etc -type f -print | wc -l
# find /etc -type d -print | wc -l
# expr $(find /etc -type f -print | wc -l) -  $(find /etc -type f -newer /etc/disktab.preinstall -print | wc -l)

(where disktab.preinstall was the last file created at install time that
wasn't modified since)

Of course there are a couple of those modified files that are
automatically updated from one other, but the same goes for Solaris.

>      Packages don't count, since they aren't part of the OS proper.

I wasn't talking about the base OS -- I was talking about a machine
that's in production and ready to do something!  Of course they count!
You have to modify some of them to get the packages to work, and a
system without some add-ons is basically useless.  Let's compare apples
to apples here, not some fictitious minimalism.
 
> } In comparison there are 309 files and 48 directories on a considerably
> } more complex and fully operational Solaris 5.6 machine running NNTP (the
> } closest "real" SysVr4 derivative I have access to these days).  In
> } contrast though only 25 of those files were modified since installation.
> 
>      Same question as above, where did you find that many files?  I
> took a Solaris 2.5 machine, counted the number of files in /etc/rc2.d,
> /etc/default, and added a fudge factor for the stuff that is actually
> in /etc.  NNTP isn't part of the OS, so it doesn't count.

# find /etc -type f -print | wc -l
# find /etc -type d -print | wc -l
# expr $(find /etc -type f -print | wc -l) -  $(find /etc -type f -newer /etc/nsswitch.conf -print | wc -l)

(where nsswitch.conf was the last file created at install time that
wasn't modified since)

(and in this case the INN files aren't under /etc so I didn't find them
anyway)

> That's a total of 21 files, and one directory.  Almost all of the
> files are ones that would need to be changed regardless of which
> version of UNIX was being used.

Hmm... so Solaris-2.6 only needs 4 more files modified than even your
basic NetBSD example.  Seems pretty mundane to me.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098      VE3TCP      <gwoods@acm.org>      <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>