Re: Looking for comparison data on network stack prowess

Alan Cox
2001-01-31T17:25:38Z

> Linux did not steal the BSD stack. I recall that Alan Cox
> politely asked UCB to have it under the GPL, and was refused.

Start with the right history then

Ross Biro did the original Linux networking code. At the time the 386BSD code
was potentially useful but two things occurred

1. I asked a real lawyer about mixing BSD and GPL code and got told the
advertising clause was an additional restriction

2. BSDI got sued, making the entire BSD codebase potentially contaminated

Someone in .de (Alas I forget their name now) actually did port BSD net/2 to
Linux.

FvK took over and then I took over and we had net2debugged (no relation to
BSD net/2) and then net/3 and net/4 over time.

The 1.0 networking code worked but certainly wasnt BSD grade, the 1.2 code
worked better but wasnt BSD grade. 2.0 was certainly on a par and 2.2/2.4
have added a lot of other stuff. *BSD has also not stood still.

You can certainly find cases where either is better.

> Oh, BTW, BSD was _not_ the first OS with IP. The first was some
> horrid mainframe thing. Sometimes, he who codes last codes best.

Humph. TOPS-10 is a beautiful OS.