OpenBSD 4.4 Released 235
Linux blog writes "The new version of OpenBSD is available for download. There are lots of nifty new features to try out including OpenSSH 5.1 with chroot(2) support, Xenocara, Gnome 2.20.3, KDE 3.5.8, etc. Machines using the UltraSPARC IV/T1/T2 and Fujitsu SPARC64-V/VI/VII are now supported. It seems amazing to me that they keep delivering these new results on a six-month release cycle."
Congratulations (Score:5, Informative)
Congratulations to the OpenBSD team. BSD is far from dead!
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:1, Informative)
Something like FreeBSD is very similar to Linux although they lack a good pre-built distro like Ubuntu. Hardware support in Linux is better.
OpenBSD on the other hand performs poorly and is several years behind in certain OS features. In the case of hardware, it's many many years behind Linux (they only relatively recently even got multiple CPU support). Then there is the issue of the many arrogant asses that think they are somehow better than everyone else even though they're basically just off working in some corner in the dark working on already outdated ideas. Of course you find people like that all over but when they run the whole project it can really be a turn-off.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:2, Informative)
This is not flamebait. I encourage moderators to read the guidelines at http://slashdot.org/moderation.shtml [slashdot.org]
The parent did use "a name" but it was not an insult so much as voicing the consensus judgment of the behavior of the leader of OpenBSD, Theo de Raadt. de Raadt is, in fact, an "arrogant ass[]"; if a moderator thinks this is calling names rather than an accurate description, I encourage that moderator to peruse the history of Slashdot articles about de Raadt, perhaps starting with http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/17/127206 [slashdot.org]
Thank you and let's all try to make Slashdot a better and more interesting place.
Re:why bother with 6 month release cycle? (Score:3, Informative)
No, the UltraSPARC T2 was released in October 2007.
Re:why bother with 6 month release cycle? (Score:4, Informative)
A site geared towards Linux user, to learn OpenBSD (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, OpenBSD's performance is behind that of Linux and FreeBSD (which are neck-and-neck.) However, performance is still quite adequate. OpenBSD has a kind of austere simplicity, however, that makes it a pleasure to administer. It certainly has a niche.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:2, Informative)
Linux doesn't take anything from BSD. Everything in Linux is free for BSD to use as long as the code stays free, ie under the GPL. While if apple takes code from BSD, you will never see that code again.
Every bit of BSD code that Apple uses is still available from them (either under the original license, or the OSI approved APSL).
Re:EOL cycle (Score:3, Informative)
Normally you don't NEED to upgrade it. Set up the device and forget about it, unless there's some type of remote exploit you'll be fine.
Re:KDE version (Score:3, Informative)
The quality of most Linux-oriented code leads to a great deal of time spent porting it to other systems
While I can understand why OSS developers would be content if they can just get their code running on Linux, they do miss out on the debugging opportunities inherent with porting to other systems.
The other aspect is that the OpenBSD team would like to make sure they are not introducing more security holes with the "latest and greatest" from the various projects. Something like KDE or Gnome could be loaded with hard to detect security holes.
Re:EOL cycle (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Congratulations (Score:4, Informative)
I've used OpenBSD for many years (early 2.x days). Before asking questions on the list it helps to gooooogle and read until your eyes are bleeding. OpenBSD has (IMHO) the best manpages of any *nix system I've ever used. The FAQ and How-Tos on the site are excellent as well.
I've had a few replies from questions I've answered both on and off-list and the people have always been helpful. That includes the few exchanges I've had with Theo over the years.
In short: exhaust your reading and searches before asking questions on the lists. The OS is free, but developers' time is limited.
Re:KDE version (Score:2, Informative)
No, they don't, they audit base, not ports.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:5, Informative)
Let me just point out that PC-BSD's kernel is the very same FreeBSD, nothing related to OpenBSD; let me also just point out that the standard FreeBSD distribution combines the advantages of Gentoo's (customizing the building of packages to your needs or desires) and of Debian (superb dependency tracking, very fast on searches, always up-to-date (if you consider Debian Unstable)).
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:4, Informative)
PC-BSD, like DesktopBSD, is FreeBSD based. Don't confuse FreeBSD and OpenBSD - they share many userspace utilities and their kernels have some common history, but they are not the same OS.
Basically, OpenBSD is the one that is rabid about security - makes great server software.
NetBSD is the ultra-portable one - good for unusual hardware.
FreeBSD has excellent support for commodity hardware. It is the one used to make the user-friendly distros.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:5, Informative)
> What does Linux take from BSD? All those vendor supplied drivers? The userland? The vast array of high quality filesystems?
The overwhelmingly dominant SSH implementation?
Re:KDE version (Score:5, Informative)
I keep seeing this, but it is not entirely correct. According to their own FAQ they do not audit ports or packages to the same degree as the base system. One must assume that the "external stuff" has not been through an audit at all when installing a port/package.
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq15.html#Intro [openbsd.org]
Re:Congratulations (Score:3, Informative)
KDE 3.5.9 was released February 19, 2008.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:4, Informative)
Yes and don't forget the other three since you're trying to be complete:
DragonFly BSD - clustering (freebsd 4 fork) good for servers.
MirBSD - OpenBSD fork (3.x i think)
MidnightBSD - FreeBSD 6.x fork (although bringing in 7.x features now) Focused on desktop use. Not at PC-BSD usability levels yet.
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:3, Informative)
Spend $20 on a new ethernet card? I used a cheap off-the-shelf realtek on openbsd for years. On a Sun SPARC, no less.
Re:Package security? (Score:5, Informative)
Anonymous cvs access is done over ssh, and the public keys are listed on the OpenBSD website. The ports tree includes checksums, and these are all verified automatically. So if you check the ssh key of the cvs server, all your ports are safe.
As for pre-built packages from FTP, I don't think there's anything in place for verification.
"Assumption is the mother..." (Score:3, Informative)
4.4 song (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Congratulations (Score:4, Informative)
I can't stand the arrogance of most open source developers I've associated with. To be fair, I can't stand the ambivalence most closed source companies have towards their users. Flash Player 10, for example, won't install on Windows unless you have -a- C:\. If you installed Windows onto a spare hard drive, it is given a different drive letter (such as E:\, in my case.) If I didn't have another disk that I could re-assign to C:\, or if I were a less technical person, I could not install Flash Player 10. Interestingly, from installing the trial of Adobe CS4 (the designer tool,) it was the only program that failed to install. I tried to contact Adobe and was told that support would come with a fee. WHAT? I am reporting a bug and they want to charge me money to elevate my call.
Maybe I just hate other programmers? Perhaps Jean-Paule Sartre should have said, "Hell is other programmers."
Re:Mebbe I should try it some time (Score:3, Informative)
Apple regards the open source community as a convenience, not as partners.
Re:KDE version (Score:1, Informative)
They don't put it through the same rigorous auditing that goes for the kernel and the core parts, but they do a lot of parameter checks, and run code examination software. Also, because it's somewhat a fringe OS, uses slightly different libraries, and has *very* aggressive security features built into those libraries (StackGhost, ProPolice, W^X, random mmap and PID allocation, etc), they find a larger volume of bugs in multi-platform software as compared to other software projects (they usually submit platform-agnostic bugfixes, but since the maintainer of glibc refuses to implement strlcat and strlcpy, and most of the bugs can't be easily reproduced on more mainstream systems, there is rarely a fix applied upstream).
The upshot of this is that the OpenBSD version of a program is almost never less secure than whatever version Linux distros are putting out, and very often is much more secure, and stable.
Re:Rock Solid (Score:3, Informative)
man acpithinkpad [openbsd.org]. man apm [openbsd.org].
Yes, it works fine.
Re:KDE version (Score:2, Informative)