It’s not technically true that Mac is Linux, but people say Mac “is” Linux because they are closely related and function identically for a lot of workflows.
Bear in mind that most people think of Linux in a DE-agnostic way. “Linux” isn’t what your desktop looks like, it’s a collection of a kernel and (mostly GNU) software that is largely shared between many distributions. Mac feels a lot like a different distribution of Linux, with some (or a lot of) quirks.
I’m a SWE and I work heavily in a CLI environment. I can use the same shell with the same software and the same configuration files shared between my Linux machine and my MacBook. Honestly the biggest indicator that I’m on Mac instead of Linux is that I have to remember to use homebrew instead of pacman/apt/etc. Otherwise, I was move my entire Linux workflow to Mac in a day or two, and can maintain the two environments in parallel.
Trying to do the same in windows is… frustrating, and only works at all because of the WSL letting me run a Linux pseudo-VM on top of my windows session.
Because it is a Unix system, so the Bash feels very similar and if you install homebrew you have a package manager with a very Linux like feel and a software catalog where most Linux command lines tool have a port for OS X. From a usability perspective OS X is Linux, but without permanent issues and reinstalls. (and I am saying this as a 12 year Linux User who only uses Macs for work)
While you are correct in that macOS primarily isn’t composed of tools that “do one thing well”, macOS is still UNIX-certified under the Single UNIX Specification (identical to saying it’s POSIX-compliant and X/Open Curses compliant) and is literally a UNIX system. Most Linux and even BSD systems are not UNIX these days, though I’d say a higher proportion of their tools/components follow the UNIX philosophy.
Yours was as well. This conversation was actually a breath of fresh air, last time I conversed about this topic, it came down to an argument that lasted for days and left us both failing to come to an agreement!
Why do you think Mac is Linux?
It’s not technically true that Mac is Linux, but people say Mac “is” Linux because they are closely related and function identically for a lot of workflows.
Bear in mind that most people think of Linux in a DE-agnostic way. “Linux” isn’t what your desktop looks like, it’s a collection of a kernel and (mostly GNU) software that is largely shared between many distributions. Mac feels a lot like a different distribution of Linux, with some (or a lot of) quirks.
I’m a SWE and I work heavily in a CLI environment. I can use the same shell with the same software and the same configuration files shared between my Linux machine and my MacBook. Honestly the biggest indicator that I’m on Mac instead of Linux is that I have to remember to use homebrew instead of pacman/apt/etc. Otherwise, I was move my entire Linux workflow to Mac in a day or two, and can maintain the two environments in parallel.
Trying to do the same in windows is… frustrating, and only works at all because of the WSL letting me run a Linux pseudo-VM on top of my windows session.
Because it is a Unix system, so the Bash feels very similar and if you install homebrew you have a package manager with a very Linux like feel and a software catalog where most Linux command lines tool have a port for OS X. From a usability perspective OS X is Linux, but without permanent issues and reinstalls. (and I am saying this as a 12 year Linux User who only uses Macs for work)
It’s unix-based and posix compliant AFAIK, it isn’t linux at all, but it follows a similar philosophy and base
I do see where you are getting at, but I would disagree on the philosophy.
The core UNIX principle is to design tools to do one thing and do it well. MacOS tools do not do this.
While you are correct in that macOS primarily isn’t composed of tools that “do one thing well”, macOS is still UNIX-certified under the Single UNIX Specification (identical to saying it’s POSIX-compliant and X/Open Curses compliant) and is literally a UNIX system. Most Linux and even BSD systems are not UNIX these days, though I’d say a higher proportion of their tools/components follow the UNIX philosophy.
It is, but keep in mind that the UNIX-certification is primarily something attained with money nowadays, not with parity in respect to UNIX.
The Open Group, the current holder of the UNIX trademark, bears no relation to Bell Labs whatsoever.
Very fair point, thanks.
Yours was as well. This conversation was actually a breath of fresh air, last time I conversed about this topic, it came down to an argument that lasted for days and left us both failing to come to an agreement!