zlacker

This is exactly what I understood, too. The structure in Linux was familiar to me from SVR4 which I used in a number of implementations, most often Data General’s DG/UX (which was a fantastic system for its time).

It’s probably true that the distinction isn’t really important any more. The things we used to have to worry about in the (g)olden days of Unix (/s) are ridiculous by todays standards. We had one of the first 2.5GB RAID arrays in the country and could run a whole medical laboratory - maybe 100 people running Wyse 60 terminals - on it. We had a dedicated 500MB drive for the OS and a couple of other drives just for database logfiles.

These days the whole OS now fits on a single SSD which takes up a tiny fraction of the device. Large SSDs have made so much complexity obsolete for most people. I believe that one could, quite literally, run that old lab software from a single Raspberry Pi.

The point being, stuff that made sense in that old environment does not necessarily make sense any more. It’s good to have the discussion though.