# Differences beetwen FreeBSD and Linux software configuring..



## bryn1u (Aug 1, 2017)

Hello guys,

Could you tell me what (or if exist) are differences in configuring software beetwen Linux and FreeBSD.

I want to run some server softwares for example: Nginx as a proxy for apache, mariadb, postfix, dovecot, dockers, vpns. I'm wondering is there really any other managment style with those services between those two systems ? 

I'm sure that most of you are linux administrator because you are forced by company compliance to being run linux, but many of you use FreeBSD too, that's why I'm asking about it.

Thanks all,
Best regards,


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## Deleted member 9563 (Aug 1, 2017)

Generally speaking a program is the same regardless on what OS it's running on.


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## bryn1u (Aug 1, 2017)

OJ said:


> Generally speaking a program is the same regardless on what OS it's running on.



I don't remember exactly but I was reading some article about dovecot configuration and there were some differences related with commands. Maybe I'm wrong.


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## phoenix (Aug 1, 2017)

Config file entries will be the same regardless of the OS it's running on (although some config options may not be supported).

Where the config files are located will be different.  Linux uses /etc/<packagename>/ for most config files, occasionally using /opt/<packagename>/, while FreeBSD uses /usr/local/etc/<packagename>/ for software installed via ports/packages.

Some versions of Linux will break the config files into multiple files in include.d or conf.d or similar sub-directories.  FreeBSD tends to keep everything in a single config file.

Once you figure out where the config file is located, actually configuring the software should be identical between systems.


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## drhowarddrfine (Aug 1, 2017)

Just to ditto what phoenix said. As an example, I went through a marathon of configuring nginx, h2o and nghttp2 servers for an experiment and the location of the config files were the only thing that was different, as well as the tutorials or documentation might use a pathname for Linux but it's slightly different on FreeBSD but I'm talking about two or three minor things and that's all. Everything else was the same.


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## francine (Aug 1, 2017)

I prefer the way the FreeBSD Ports goes with its configuration files. On Linux they're everywhere in the whole filesystem. I recently had to edit 3 different configuration files in 3 different locations on Linux .. pure horror


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## stratacast1 (Aug 9, 2017)

I agree with everyone here. Files feel smattered around the Linux filesystem more than FreeBSD. I've been (and still am) a Linux desktop user, but have done Linux servers for 2 years and loved it. Gave FreeBSD a try and absolutely love it. I find Apache easier to manage on FreeBSD. It's easier for me to keep track of modules and separation of data and configs. I've just switched my server to FreeBSD from Ubuntu Server last week (starting to trust Ubuntu less and Jails provide what I liked in LXD) and the filesystem starts to make sense real fast as you use it more. I find generally though the way you configure software in FreeBSD is about the same as you'd expect in Linux, just the same as you see some software is different to configure from Debian distros to RHEL distros


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## SirDice (Aug 9, 2017)

Yeah, that's pretty much my experience too. The configuration itself is usually exactly the same, it's the location of the configuration files that differs. On FreeBSD I can find almost everything by simply guessing the location (read hier(7)) and it's 99 times out of 100 exactly the location where I expect it to be. On Linux not so much. It also doesn't help when every Linux distribution uses a different style or location. On Linux I sometimes spend way to much time looking for things that aren't were I expected them to be.


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## suntzu00 (Aug 11, 2017)

Try moving a fully configured exim from Debian to FreeBSD. You're gonna suffer like you've never suffered before.


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## scottro (Aug 11, 2017)

I moved exim from RedHat to FreeBSD and it was pretty painless.  Not heavily customized, there were a few external files we reference in the config.  I've also moved postfix back and forth between the two with few problems. Sometimes, they reference paths that have to be changed.


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## phoenix (Aug 12, 2017)

suntzu00 said:


> Try moving a fully configured exim from Debian to FreeBSD. You're gonna suffer like you've never suffered before.



The one that got me was ProFTPd, moving from FreeBSD to Debian. 1 config file, nicely commented, on FreeBSD. Separate config file for each variable, named after the variable, with the contents of the file as the value for that variable! Probably made it super easy to code a GUI config tool, but made configuring via CLI a royal pain!


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