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> To what extent does BSD follow the "everything is a file" philosophy that linux does. Where is information about devices and processes to be found?

You got this the wrong way around. "Everything is a file" is a core UNIX feature, and predates Linux by more than 20 years.

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I think that "most everything is a file" is a core UNIX feature. "Everything is a file" really comes from Plan 9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs (see Design Concepts, /net, and /proc)

In Unix it is rather "everything has a file descriptor at API level" while in Plan9 it is really "everything is a file" from the system standpoint.

It is not surprising since Plan9 also came from Bell Labs, and they learned the lessons of Unix, raising the idea to a new level.

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