(“Why didn’t I switch to BSD sooner?”)
Ever stumbled through a mess of systemd units, dependencies, and journalctl logs just to enable or disable a simple service?
On FreeBSD, things are beautifully… sane.
🛡️ The rc.d System: Clean, Transparent, and Powerful
In FreeBSD, service management is handled through plain shell scripts located in /etc/rc.d/ and /usr/local/etc/rc.d/. They’re readable, editable, and — here’s the best part — they follow a clear, consistent structure.
To enable a service:
echo ‘nginx_enable=”YES”‘ >> /etc/rc.conf
To start it immediately:
service nginx start
To stop it:
service nginx stop
To check its status:
service nginx status
That’s it.
No daemons managing daemons. No binary logs. No YAML. No soul-draining complexity.
🔍 Why Is This So Brilliant?
• ✅ No magic — every service script is a regular shell script you can read and understand.
• ✅ Separation of core vs. ports — native services and third-party ones are clearly split.
• ✅ Human-readable configuration via /etc/rc.conf, no nested folders or “units”.
• ✅ Custom services? Just drop your shell script in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ and you’re done.
🤯 The BSD Moment™
Once you experience this, it hits you:
“Wait… I can actually manage my services without fighting the init system?”
Yes, dear reader. In FreeBSD, the system serves you, not the other way around.
🧩 Closing Thought
If you’re tired of complex abstractions in Linux-land and want something that feels engineered with clarity and respect for your time — give FreeBSD a try. You might find yourself saying:
“How did I not think of this before?”
Try BSD, join us.