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Operating Systems Open Source Security Software Unix BSD

OpenBSD 6.4 Released (openbsd.org) 121

Posted by BeauHD from the come-and-get-it dept.
The 45th version of the OpenBSD project has been released, bringing more hardware support (Radeon driver updates, Intel microcode integration, and more), a virtualization tool that supports the disk format qcow2, and a network interface where you can quickly join and switch between different Wi-Fi networks.

Root.cz also notes that audio recording is now disabled by default. If you need to record audio, it can be enabled with the new sysctl variable. An anonymous Slashdot reader first shared the announcement. You can download it from any of the mirrors here.
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OpenBSD 6.4 Released More

OpenBSD 6.4 Released

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  • Or is OpenBSD still best used as a firewall / server / NAS ?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by spth ( 5126797 )

      My main desktop is Debian GNU/Linux.

      But I also have two OpenBSB systems, and my experience is quite different between the two. I use them for various tasks (though they also sometimes sit unused for weeks), and for easy interaction use a graphical environment. One of the tasks I use them for is to check if the Small Device C Compiler (SDCC) works well on OpenBSD.

      One is an old amd64 Dell laptop with German keyboard. Basically, it just works. XFCE as desktop, Firefox as browser, LLVM for the compiler.

      The othe

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by anthk ( 5588258 )

        setxkbmap de

        Also, check youtube-dl and streamlink for online videos. For Youtube, mpv can play the videos directly, altough an altivec enabled mplayer will play those much faster. As for the browser, you have links+ too. Also, I can emulate a G4 under Qemu, if you want I can give you son Seamonkey binaries soon.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Noryungi ( 70322 )

      I have used OpenBSD on the desktop since 2005.

      It was a great OS for my laptop at the time, and it still is. I used OpenBSD exclusively on it, and managed to get everything done without any issue.

      My current laptop is a MacBook Air, but the next one will run OpenBSD again.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by grub ( 11606 )
        I've used it on and off on the desktop since the late 90's. It takes a bit more work to get going as you want, but in the end you have a system that works.

        It has all the tools I need for my day-to-day work (outside of needing Windows on our domain and Outlook for office communications)

        OpenBSD Just Works.

  • Anyone switch from Linux to BSD? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tgibson ( 131396 ) on Thursday October 18, 2018 @11:03PM (#57501644) Homepage

    I can very much understand preferring BSD if that's the environment you cut your teeth on. Is there anyone who didn't have that history who looked at both Linux and BSD and decided the latter better served their needs?

    • Re:Anyone switch from Linux to BSD? (Score:5, Funny)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday October 19, 2018 @03:45AM (#57502354)

      Based on the Slashdot comments from the anti-systemd crowd everyone here now runs BSD and Linux is officially dead.

      • Systemd is not Linux. There are Linux distros that don't use systemd by default. My personal choice is Gentoo, which I've been using since 2003 or so, and it never adopted systemd (though you can install it if you really want).
        • That is completely beside the point. The point is that systemd works great and you have been sent on a fools errand by anti-linux trolls who spread misinformation to try and divide the community. The major players didn't switch to it as part of a conspiracy to make Linux the suxors. That would be literally the opposite of their best interest.

          • That is completely beside the point. The point is that systemd works great and you have been sent on a fools errand by anti-linux trolls who spread misinformation to try and divide the community. The major players didn't switch to it as part of a conspiracy to make Linux the suxors. That would be literally the opposite of their best interest.

            Did you mean to reply to the GP instead? Because I didn't say anything about systemd suckage in particular. I was trying to point out that systemd is not Linux, but I guess it won't get any clearer by repeating it.

            • Again, you missed the point entirely. The OP was saying that, to hear the systemd trolls tell it, everyone has already moved to BSD. The fact that there are distributions without it are off topic, since the GPs point was quite specifically about systemd and systemd trolls. Neither of us care that you can get a Linux system without it, because that is as backwards and foolish as switching to BSD.

        • Systemd is not Linux.

          I minor setback. I'm sure this will be fixed in version 230.

      • Yep. True. Completely switched years ago. Nothing funny about it; I'm just loving it.

    • Re:Anyone switch from Linux to BSD? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by SigmundFloyd ( 994648 ) on Friday October 19, 2018 @05:05AM (#57502526)

      I tried, but hardware support in the BSD world was frankly pathetic. NetBSD doesn't support ACPI suspend-to-disk and needs special kernel configuration just to show readable characters on the framebuffer console, on my old laptop. FreeBSD and NetBSD wouldn't even finish booting on one of my systems -- a run of the mill, 12 year old amd64 desktop PC that never had any problems with Linux.

      I haven't tried OpenBSD lately. Although it's really high quality, its upgrade schedule is unacceptably hectic for me. I like stability on my systems; whereas, with OpenBSD, you must reinstall the whole system at least once a year, if you want to keep it secure (and if you don't, I don't see why you're running that particular OS in the first place). What OpenBSD really needs are long-term support releases.

      What the BSD world needs is BETTER HARDWARE SUPPORT if they ever want to be serious, viable contenders. I'd love to switch away from Linux, which is getting more and more fragmented and unstable. But the simple fact is that, today, there is no serious alternative in the Unix[-like] world.

      • I tried, but hardware support in the BSD world was frankly pathetic.

        This was my experience with NetBSD too. There were some distro aspects I really liked about BSD -- generally, a kind of clean traditional Unix feel -- but I was spoiled by Linux on the hardware side. Fortunately, I soon found Gentoo which takes the best of BSD into a Linux distro with GNU userland. The bit about having to compile everything? That's straight from BSD Ports.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by grub ( 11606 )
        "with OpenBSD, you must reinstall the whole system at least once a year, if you want to keep it secure"

        Nonsense. There is an upgrade option when you boot from the ISO or ISO image. Here how you upgrade from 6.3 -> 6.4. [openbsd.org] I have gone this route for years and it has never failed me. Just be sure to check what it is suggesting and watch the diffs.

        • Nonsense. There is an upgrade option when you boot from the ISO or ISO image.

          Yes, and FYI that "upgrade option" is a full reinstall (which you must do twice a year, if you choose that route).

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by grub ( 11606 )
            Yep, I've done it countless times. I've upgraded from 3 versions on one machine in little time. Granted it's not pluuratiog-and-play and does require some oversight.

            I misunderstood your comment to mean you need to do a full reinstall from scratch, meaning configuration and setup. That is not the case.

            • I misunderstood your comment to mean you need to do a full reinstall from scratch, meaning configuration and setup. That is not the case.

              I'm just now seriously starting my move from Linux to OpenBSD, and just did a trial 6.3->6.4 upgrade of a vanilla only one package installed scratch 6.3 installation. It does look like the process reinstalls all? the standard binary etc. system files, but as you say, the configuration, disk setup, etc. remains the same.

              Here's the upgrade guide [openbsd.org] BTW. It's all manual, b

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by anthk ( 5588258 )
            So the same as any Linux distro, but with OpenBSD I just boot bsd.rd, I choose upgrade, and then pkg_add -Ui. Done.

            • So the same as any Linux distro, but with OpenBSD I just boot bsd.rd, I choose upgrade, and then pkg_add -Ui. Done.

              Well, going by the 6.3->6.4 upgrade [openbsd.org], which I just did a trial run of, you may have to fiddle with a few config files, and do some minor tweaking like deleting an obsolete daemon and its user and group, but it's quite straightforward if you have basic command line system administration skills.

            • So the same as any Linux distro

              No.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by ottdmk ( 1376807 )
        I'm really quite surprised that FreeBSD didn't run on your old amd64 desktop. I started running FreeBSD back around 2003 and I've never yet had it fail to boot on the several, bog-standard amd64 systems I've had in that time. Weird. I currently have FreeBSD running on three different systems: a Dell Precision Tower 3620, an old Eurocom laptop and my homebrew box, which has an AMD Fx-6300 running on an ASUS motherboard with a Nvidia GT-730 graphics card. The only one that gave me any trouble is the Eurocom.
      • I'm curious about this 'run of the mill 12 year old amd64 desktop PC'...? At our company we use FreeBSD and OpenBSD for a number of secure server services and many of us run it on desktops to interact with those systems and we've never had a system it wouldn't install on with the vanilla kernel. A lot of people use pfSense on plenty of hardware configurations and the issues typically stem from oddball or cutting edge new hardware products.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday October 19, 2018 @05:41AM (#57502596)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sad_ ( 7868 )

      I found the BSD's are very good, but there is some relearning to be done (however, a case can be made these days that Linux also requires a lot of relearning by swapping out the 'old' and replacing it with something new for not always very clear reasons).
      And since i've used Linux a lot more and a lot longer, i tend to return to it.
      That said, it's good to know that BSD is there, just in case.

  • Mourning OpenBSD (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I went out to OpenBSD's grave on Decoration Day. The old forgotten cemetery is to be found adjacent to the dark woods beyond the edge of town. There within olfactory distance of the municipal treatment plant you will find OpenBSD's final resting place.

    OpenBSD's tombstone was shrouded by thick mosses and knots of noxious ivy. A mournful funerary crow sounded the requiem, as I gently pulled aside the tangled twists of thorns, and cleaned the decaying marker the best I could. A suffocating melancholia filled m

    • idiot, OpenBSD is used all over the internet, mainly for routing, firewall and other appliances. Also proprietary systems have openbsd code in them. if you're typing from a linux, mac os x, or solaris box you have openbsd code in it.

      the only thing undead and rotting are the pathetic anti-openbsd trolls, get some better material

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