←back to thread

How to escape the Linux networking stack

(blog.cloudflare.com)
148 points meysamazad | 4 comments | 17 Nov 25 15:49 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
alecco ◴[17 Nov 25 21:38 UTC] No.45958647[source]▶
Being a networking company I always wondered why did they pick Linux over FreeBSD.
replies(3): >>45960281 #>>45961602 #>>45962503 #
HumanOstrich ◴[18 Nov 25 01:09 UTC] No.45960281[source]▶
Why does being a networking company suggest FreeBSD is the "right" pick?
replies(2): >>45960424 #>>45963102 #
1. alecco ◴[18 Nov 25 09:35 UTC] No.45963102[source]▶
Because FreeBSD is known for having the best network stack. The code is elegant and clean. And, at least until a few years ago, it was the preferred choice to build routers or firewalls.

AFAIK, they were the first to implement BPF for production ready code almost 3 decades ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Packet_Filter

But all this is opinion and anecdotal. Just pick a random network feature and compare by yourself the Linux and the FreeBSD code.

replies(1): >>45966234 #
2. HumanOstrich ◴[18 Nov 25 14:09 UTC] No.45966234[source]▶
> But all this is opinion and anecdotal.

Exactly.

replies(1): >>45970232 #
3. alecco ◴[18 Nov 25 18:41 UTC] No.45970232[source]▶
> But all this is opinion and anecdotal. Just pick a random network feature and compare by yourself the Linux and the FreeBSD code.

Why did you take out of context my self-criticism and omitted the second part of the line showing how you can see this by yourself?

replies(1): >>45971943 #
4. HumanOstrich ◴[18 Nov 25 20:57 UTC] No.45971943{3}[source]▶
"Go research it yourself" does not back up your claim that FreeBSD is the "best" for networking.