BSD vs. Linux (2005)
I know Linux (Debian) quite well and would like an excuse to try learning FreeBSD, but I just can&#x27;t find any serious use-cases where FreeBSD would be of any advantage.<p>I run a small site on a VPS, so:<p>1. I don&#x27;t have GBs of free memory for ZFS<p>2. I don&#x27;t have GB of RAM, CPU and HD space to build everything from ports, and most importantly, no need.<p>Except for an Application Firewall for nginx, what does ports have over deb packages? All in all, how much MB of free RAM or free HD space will I win by compiling everything myself (taking time to do so, and pushing off security updates because I don&#x27;t have the time to sit and watch the compilation, hoping nothing breaks (which _did_ happen once)<p>3. License - I don&#x27;t care. GPL is free enough for me.<p>4. Base vs. Ports - Why should I care? Debian (testing!) is stable enough for me. Except for dist-upgrades, I never ran into issues, and then it may be faster to nuke the server from orbit. Now had BSD &quot;appified&quot; the &#x2F;usr&#x2F;local directory (rather than keeping the nginx binary in &#x2F;usr&#x2F;local&#x2F;bin and conf in &#x2F;usr&#x2F;local&#x2F;conf it would have kept everything related to nginx in a &#x2F;usr&#x2F;local&#x2F;nginx) it would have been interesting, but now?<p>If anything, I like how Debian maintains <i>both</i> base <i>and</i> ports, so I can get almost any software I need from apt-get, and don&#x27;t have to worry about conflicts.<p>5. systemd? The reason Debian went with systemd was (IIRC) because they didn&#x27;t have the manpower to undo all of RedHat&#x27;s work in forcing all applications to integrate into systemd (such as GNOME). I don&#x27;t know how FreeBSD is doing in that regard.<p>I don&#x27;t mind learning new systems. (see my username :) ). I actually understand what nixos or coreos, for example, bring to the table. But FreeBSD?