Bug Busters! OpenBSD 5.1 Released 135
An anonymous reader writes "Today the 5.1 release of OpenBSD has surfaced. As usual, it includes improved hardware support, but also OpenSSH 6.0 and over 7000 ports, with major performance and stability improvements in the package build process (and some really cool stickers). Here's the changelog, the download page, and the CD-ordering page. "
Re:7000 Ports? (Score:5, Informative)
OpenBSD ports are a set of makefiles that will build packages, not OS 'ports' like you are thinking.
Re:Over 7000 ports (Score:4, Informative)
Re:YAY! (Score:5, Informative)
This is true, but the base install is pretty limited, so it's hard to compare, really.
(I think it's been three holes since the dawn of OpenBSD, by the way).
That said I still use it on some of my outward-facing stuff. PF is great. The pre-chrooted httpd is nice. Some other parts, not so much, though... can't think of a good example right now, but once in a while I run into things that amaze me with backwards-ness compared to my linux boxes.
Oh, and the documentation is a work of art compared to linux. That's a really nice feature.
Re:YAY! (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, totally agree that OpenBSD is relevant today. I would even say OpenBSD is becoming more relevant today than it has been in the past, as we will receive more backdoors in open source projects that rely on binary distribution methods. I really hope OpenBSD sticks around, since it is the only truly stable open source distribution. I have used it since 2.6 and have always enjoyed the no-bullshit approach to having reliability and security together. The OpenBSD doesn't make the poor decisions that are so common in Linux distributions (the plymouth OS process on Ubuntu is a good example of common Linux stupidity). Also, OpenBSD doesn't have the hardware pressure of NetBSD, nor the feature pressure of FreeBSD, so they can focus on security and reliability. OpenBSD is relevant to those of us that require a quality operating system.
Re:Choices of s/w & IPv6 support (Score:1, Informative)
Nothing you say makes sense. FreeBSD's IPv6 support is second to none only if you exclude OpenBSD.
They still have Apache because OpenBSD is extremely conservative. They forked Apache 1.3 over a decade ago and notwithstanding Apache's rough edges, has been rock solid (many of the recent Apache 1.3.x security issues were fixed or mitigated in OpenBSD's fork long ago). Nginx is in trunk already but OpenBSD is reticent to switch over until they're convinced it's worth the risk.
Likewise with Sendmail. They have their own MTA in the pipeline but are extremely conservative about switching over. They forked sendmail long ago.
This conservatism means two things: security vulnerabilities are exceedingly rare (newer code is always riskier), and system administration is a breeze. Very little changes from one release to the next. Administering OpenBSD is almost exactly the same today as it was 10 years ago, the biggest change being the addition of /etc/rc.d a coupe of cycles ago. The easier administration means the more likely one can keep a tight ship.
One thing OpenBSD is not conservative about is documentation, standards support, and the networking stack. All of these things are under constant development, but OpenBSDs philosophy is incremental improvement, which means you rarely see announcements about huge features. Features are completed gradually and more-or-less silently rolled out as a finished product.
Quality Control with Balls! (Score:4, Informative)
...the base install is pretty limited...
The base install is painstakingly audited. They look for all bugs, even ones that have no apparent means of exploitation. This has often resulted in OpenBSD being unaffected by holes discovered in other systems. The same degree of assurance cannot be extended to thousands of ports, however, so a line is drawn around the base install.
That being said, I've heard that Theo expects that one should be able to 'cd /usr/ports' and 'make install' - to build and install every port in the tree - without error. What other OS has the balls to pull that off?