BSDutils on Linux
FreeBSD is an operating system, unlike Linux. Inside of FreeBSD, there
lies a custom kernel, init system, TCP/IP stack, and user utilities, among
other things. Linux by itself is just a kernel, and cannot function as its
own operating system. It is common for Linux to be paired with GNU coreutils
to provide a sensible userland; however, this leads to a lack of competition
and "vendor lock-in" of GNU in the modern day.
A modern Linux user should have the option to choose multiple utilities without
fear of system breakages. Sure, BusyBox, Toybox, uutils, and others exist, but
they are not without their absence of GNU features or presence of inferior
performance.
The alternative, then, is to use FreeBSD's coreutils, or other coreutils that abide
more to original UNIX than deviating from it. Majority of the internet infrastructure
(including those that serve this website) use UNIX-like operating systems. BSD is a
direct derivative of UNIX, having come from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
division of the University of California, Berkeley.
With FreeBSD being the most popular BSD fork, it can be reasonably determined that it would
be a perfect candidate for replacing GNU coreutils, as the coreutils on Linux are the most
popular utilities in its domain.
There are multiple reasons to pursue replacing coreutils; namely, GNU coreutils are some of
the largest in terms of binary size. GNU products also tend to have the most restrictive
options when it comes to compilers, as many GNU projects only compile with GCC, the GNU
Compiler Collection (or GNU C Compiler). Another argument for replacing the coreutils, then,
could be license choice. The GNU GPL is not attractive for embedded companies who do not
commit back source code as a means of making a profit; rather, it is preferred to create
new source code under the company's domestic programmers, or use projects with permissive
licenses, like the Apache, MIT, or BSD family. The likes of Google use Apache products in
their applications to not rewrite code that has already been written. At the same time,
Google is one of the largest contributors to the Linux kernel as of 2023, and projects such
as ChromeOS, Android, and Chrome all have their open source counterparts.
Attaching permissive coreutils to Linux means that companies that frequently work with embedded
projects will not have to give back source code for them. This is a good thing, because it
encourages competition in a market that has none (but used to - see SunOS, AT&T UNIX, SRV4, etc).
Finally, one can go about replacing their coreutils by using BSDutils, made by dcantrell on GitHub.
Alternatively, I have a fork.