[rescue] Bare box installs

[der Mouse]

> sendmail, pop, imap, ad infinitum, working in Linux from a bare system can
> a Linux system down to something that compares to an old system. As a trivial

There are plenty of alternative to Linux, some of them substantially
less bloated (and correspnodingly more comprehensible).

> For a server system, where you're installing basic services (OS,
> Apache, sendmail, pop, imap, ad infinitum,

I'd hardly consider any of those "basic services", except the first
(the OS itself).  _Maybe_ sendmail, but even that not really; most of
my boxen get along just fine without sending mail anywhere, and none of
them run apache, pop, or imap.

> As a trivial example, compare the sources for today's ls(1) with the
> one from 7th edition.

In the source tree I have at most ready hand, 2100 lines, of which 397
are manpage.  For the ls I actually use (as distinct from the one that
ships with the OS I use), 836 lines.

That's still twice V7's 425 lines, but in the same ballpark.  Hmm, it
might be interesting to sit down with both versions and figure out
what's behind the differences.

> Or better, compare the kernel sources.

But make sure you're comparing apple with apples by first paring the
kernel down to support only the stuff V7's kernel supports: a PDP-11
with, what, a dozen? different possible peripherals.  "Networking"
meant UUCP.  14-octet filename component limit.  Etc.

As for understanding it all?  That's not why I have source.  I can't
read and understand all of it.  But, crucially, I _can_ read and
understand any of it.  I don't know in advance which piece I'll want to
look at, but I know that when something comes up that does make me want
to look at some particular piece, I can.

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