1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
|
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<html><head>
<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="lgazmail v1.1preB">
<TITLE>The Answer Guy 32:
The Five Flaws of <EM>the</EM> Unix System
</TITLE>
<!-- ORIGINAL SUBJECT:
---------
JTD SUBTITLE:
-->
</head>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#A000A0"
ALINK="#FF0000">
<H4>"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
</H4>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<H1 align="center"><A NAME="answer">
<img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="" border="0" align="middle">
<a href="./lg_toc32.html">The Answer Guy</a>
<img src="../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="" border="0" align="middle">
</A></H1>
<BR>
<H4 align="center">By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:answerguy@ssc.com">answerguy@ssc.com</a>
<BR>Starshine Technical Services, <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H4>
<p><hr><p>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
<H3><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" alt="(?)"
width="50" height="28" align="left" border="0"
>The Five Flaws of <EM>the</EM> Unix System</H3>
<p><strong>From Ashley G. on 29 Jul 1998 </strong></p>
<!-- begin body -->
<p><strong>JIM,
HI I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN SEND ME SOME INFO.ALL I NEED IS THE
NAMES OF THE 5 FLAWS IN THE UNIX SYSTEM,JUST THE NAMES.
</strong></p>
<p><strong>IF YOU CAN SEND THEM TO ME I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT>
</strong></p>
<blockquote><img src="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
alt="(!)" border="0"
>I think some flames are in order here:
</blockquote>
<ol>
<li>This is not the "We do your homework for you" service.
<li>I volunteer many hours per month answering
questions about Linux. There are others out
there who can answer your questions about
other forms of Unix. I frequently answer
questions about how to interoperate between
Linux and other OS' including many forms of
Unix. Most of what I say about Linux applies
to most other forms of Unix. However the
distinction is important.
<li>You need to learn where your <tt>[Caps Lock]</tt> key is
and keep it turned off if you plan to get
any co-operation or respect from anybody
on the 'net (in Usenet netnews or on any
technical mailing lists).
<li>There is no such thing as "the Unix System"
there are many different versions of Unix ---
and there have been for almost thirty years.
<li>If someone told you that there were "five"
specific "flaws" in Unix they were suffering
from horrible misconceptions.
<li>As likely it may be the case that you've
critically misundertood someone.
</ol>
<blockquote>Now to answer your question:
</blockquote>
<blockquote>There is no list of generally held "flaws" in Unix or
Linux that I know of. There are a number of problems
with even postulating such a list.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>First there isn't any one Unix system. C-Kermit claims
to support about 700 versions and implementations of Unix
(and Unix-like operating systems).
</blockquote>
<blockquote>There is considerable ongoing academic debate about what
precisely is Unix. I won't bother trying to provide
my own definition --- it would just get me flame mail
and perpetuate the debate. There are many people who
will even deny that there's any doubt. They will say:
Unix is any system that has been "branded" by The
Open Group as conformant to the X/Open portability
guidelines (XPG4 or XPG3). Others will pipe in and
say that any thing that meets Spec1170 is Unix, while
others will claim that POSIX is the one true standard.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>At that point we'll go through the whole debate as to
whether Unix is limited to just those systems which are
dubbed to be "Unix" by this or that standards body,
or whether it applies to Unix like systems --- such as
Linux.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Indeed we could argue for days about what precisely is
Linux. In the strict sense it is considered to be a
set of kernel sources and the ancillary device drivers,
and makefiles. In common usage Linux refers to any of
a number of collections of software that run under a
compilation of those (kernel) sources. Others, notably
Richard Stallman, argue that the term Linux should be
applied only to the kernel sources and that a different
term should be applied to larger aggregations of
software built around it.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>His argument is valid -- since most Linux distibutions
are about 5% to 10% Linux kernel sources, and drivers
and about 25% GNU software. Since RMS is the principle
of the Free Software Foundation (the organization that
owns the copyright over the GNU sources) he has a
reasonable interest in seeing that people know where
some of the major components of their Linux based
GNU systems come from.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Eventually the FSF will have a full operating system of
it's own: the HURD. The GNU project was started to
build such a system and the fact that they released
a large number of vital components for public use
is what made Linux possible.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>At the same time there are other bodies that have
produced major software subsystems that are
conventionally included in a Linux distribution.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>The computer science research group (CSRG) at
University of California, Berkeley released a large
number of packages and a large body of source code
for public use (BSD). Many of the common utilities
under Linux (most of the NetKit, I think) are from these
sources.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>The X Window system comes from MIT's Athena project and
the free implementation of that which we use under Linux
is principally from the XFree86 Project. XFree86 is the
X Window system that's used by a number of Unix
implementations including FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>So, if we were to try to fairly represent these parties
in our nomenclature we'd have to refer to our systems
as:
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Linux/GNU/BSD/XFree86/"MIT X Window System" Systems
</blockquote>
<blockquote>... which is why a respectfully decline to comply
with rms' desire for me to use the phrase Linux/GNU when
I mean "Linux" (in the common broader sense).
</blockquote>
<blockquote>The other reason I choose not do to this most of the time is
that I find it more difficult to read in that form. This is
undoubtedly a horrible character flaw on my part but I find
that I sometimes subvocalize (mentally "sound out") passages
of technical text in my efforts to understand and proofread
it. So, if rms likes he can simply say that my refusal to
refer to this is symptom of my stupidity. I'll cop to that.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>So, I suppose we could say that the "first flaw" of Unix
is that no one seems to know what Unix is.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>While it is tempting to try to follow this line of logic
and devise four more for you --- I think it will be much
quicker and more amusing for you to read <em>The Unix-Haters
Handbook</em> by Simson Garfinkel, et al (IDG Books, (c) 1996).
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Conveniently this book is in four "Parts":
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Part 1: User Friendly?
<br>Part 2: Programmer's System?
<br>Part 3: Sysadmin's Nightmare
<br>Part 4: Et Cetera
</blockquote>
<blockquote>... and I think that every serious student of Unix and Linux
should read this book. For one thing it requires an advanced
understanding of Unix to understand the complaints --- and
a really advanced knowledge to see how many of these
complaints don't apply to many "modern" Unix variants (Linux
in particular).
</blockquote>
<blockquote>For the rest of it I found it amusing, frustrating and
significant that the many contributors to Unix_Haters did not
list modern available alternatives that exhibited the features
they preferred in an OS and environment (or at least that lack
the features that they hate). There were references to
the ancient "Lisp Machines" but there was no clear endorsement
nor were there any suggestions about how things "should be."
</blockquote>
<blockquote>So, as the title suggests this is a curmudgeonly book without
constructive merit. However, the Unix and Linux enthusiast
should be thoroughly familiar with the material for the same
reason that a self-respecting agnostic should be thoroughly
familiar with the major religious works of whatever society
surrounds him or her.
</blockquote>
<!-- end body -->
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/ssc.copying.html"
>Copyright ©</a> 1998, James T. Dennis <BR>
Published in <I>Linux Gazette</I> Issue 32 September 1998</H5>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!--::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-->
<table width="98%"><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td rowspan="3"><A HREF="../lg_answer32.html"><IMG
SRC="../gx/dennis/answernew.gif"
ALT="[ Answer Guy Index ]"></A></td>
<td><A HREF="tag_phreak.html">phreak</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_abandon.html">abandon</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_javaterm.html">javaterm</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_BBS.html">BBS</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_flaws.html">flaws</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_doslinux.html">doslinux</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_resume.html">resume</A>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td><A HREF="tag_softwindows.html">softwindows</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_convert.html">convert</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_apache.html">apache</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_emulate.html">emulate</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_database.html">database</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_distrib.html">distrib</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_proxy.html">proxy</A>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td><A HREF="tag_disable.html">disable</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_DVI.html">DVI</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_superblock.html">superblock</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_serial.html">serial</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_permission.html">permission</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_detach.html">detach</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_cdr.html">cdr</A>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td><A HREF="tag_rs422.html">rs422</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_modem.html">modem</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_notfound.html">notfound</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_tuning.html">tuning</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_libc5.html">libc5</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_startup.html">startup</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_clock.html">clock</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_ping.html">ping</A>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td><A HREF="tag_accounts.html">accounts</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_lilo.html">lilo</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_NDS.html">NDS</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_95slow.html">95slow</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_nonlinux.html">nonlinux</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_progenv.html">progenv</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_cluster.html">cluster</A>
<td><A HREF="tag_ftpd.html">ftpd</A>
</tr></table>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!--::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-->
<A HREF="./lg_toc32.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/indexnew.gif"
ALT="[ Table Of Contents ]"></A>
<A HREF="../index.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/homenew.gif"
ALT="[ Front Page ]"></A>
<A HREF="lg_bytes32.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/back2.gif"
ALT="[ Previous Section ]"></A>
<A HREF="./stemen.html"><IMG SRC="../gx/fwd.gif"
ALT="[ Next Section ]"></A>
<!--::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-->
</body>
</html>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->
|
