Re: Curious Question.

[glhenni@cs.sandia.gov (Gary L. Hennigan)]

Dan Willard <dan@macrosys.com> writes:
|  Just how closely does Linux match with Unix?  If I know Linux and sitdown
| in front of a Unix terminal am I just going to notice a few differences (ie
| file locations and a couple of commands) or am I going to be lost?  I think
| I already know the answer but would like confirmation. Thanks.

Almost without exception Unix is Unix at the user level, especially
basic commands and tools, e.g., ls, df, du, awk, grep, etc. Things can
vary more at sys admin level though. For example, even among Linux
distributions there's the variation in "init", with some distros using
SYSV and others using BSD style init schemes. Even at this level
though there's usually a root commonality. For example I don't think
I've ever run across a Unix system that didn't use /etc/passwd.

Even with this variation at the sys admin level, once you've learned
one flavor of Unix it's much easier to become familiar with a
different flavor.

Gary