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Downloadable Unofficial OpenBSD CDs
Attila Nagy writes: "The unofficial (made by the FSN project) OpenBSD 2.9 CDs can be downloaded from ftp.fsn.hu/pub/CDROM-Images/openbsd.
The set consists of two images, the first holds the necessary stuff for the installation (only for the i386 architecture, on which the CD is bootable), the second contains the binary packages.
Please note that they are NOT the official OpenBSD CD-ROMs. The official bits can be ordered from the OpenBSD orders page. If you can afford the money, please buy the official set to help the OpenBSD project."
How does flamebait like this end up as +4 insightful?
I don't know you, Baki, and you may be the nicest guy in the world, but I would bet a lot of money that Theo has given 10 times more free software to the world than you ever will, and he's still at it. Sure, you can dismiss OpenBSD as a personality-driven 'splitoff', but many people see it as an important product that fills a niche nobody else has really been willing to address.
He is a difficult, undiplomatic person.
The list of significant free software contributors this sentence could apply to is long and distinguished.
Therefore, OpenBSD always generates a lot of news (just look at the overreaction w.r.t. ipfilter a week ago)
Here we go again. ipf is not free software. Theo et al should have clarified that long ago, and I'm sure they are quite upset with themselves that they didn't. However, OpenBSD has clear goals which ipf plainly violates, and even if Darren had wanted to come to an understanding with Theo like he apparently has with the FreeBSD and NetBSD maintainers, OpenBSD's goals gave Theo no choice but to pull ipf out of the kernel. Sticking to your principles is not an overreaction. And I'm not flaming Darren here either as he is welcome to do whatever he wants with his copyrights.
The other free BSD's, the two main ones, FreeBSD and NetBSD, are free for download, also in ISO form.
From my perspective, the 'two main ones' are OpenBSD and FreeBSD, but my criteria don't include frequency of use. And I think it is great that FreeBSD and NetBSD have downloadable ISO's. That way, if you can't afford to buy the official OpenBSD CD, you don't have a friend to borrow the official CD from, you can't download a boot-floppy and install over the net, and you don't trust the unofficial ISO's, you can always choose one of these other excellent operating systems. Why not try Linux while you are at it? It isn't like OpenBSD's ISO policy is damaging the free software movement.
You only need to get a CD one time, and for years and years you can track the whole project with minimum bandwidth requirements.
That sounds exactly like OpenBSD. If you ignore the net-install method, which allows a 0 CD installation.
Even so, the FreeBSD project would like support in the form of sold CD's. But if you don't want to, there is absolutely nothing to make your life as a "freeloader" harder, on the contrary.
Very true, and very commendable of them. And if OpenBSD or NetBSD meet your needs the best, find a way to install them instead; you aren't going to save any time or money trying to recreate all that work by yourself.
If you say, "now I'll be modded down because of X", I'll happily oblige.
The reason why the ISO images cannot be made official is that Theo de Raadt has copyrighted the OpenBSD CD-ROM's ISO layout.
Below is a snippet of the OpenBSD FAQ (which can be found here:
3.1.2 - Does OpenBSD provide an ISO image available for download? You can't. The official OpenBSD CD-ROM layout is copyright Theo de Raadt, as an incentive for people to buy the CD set. Note that only the layout is copyrighted, OpenBSD itself is free. Nothing precludes someone else to just grab OpenBSD and make their own CD.