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OpenBSD 3.7 Reviewed

Posted by Hemos on from the good-stuff-to-read dept.

busfahrer writes "Jem Matzan has written a review of OpenBSD 3.7 for Newsforge. He talks about their licensing issues, network features, upgrading packages and the new supported architectures."

5 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Declare your bias, why don't you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Opening line:

    The operating system world has been blessed by another regular release of OpenBSD.

    And, no, it doesn't get any more objective further down. Nor does he talk about the licensing issues or new architectures in any detail at all - less detail, in fact, than he talks about the theme tune.

  2. Re:Actual information by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have to admit I am disappointed. No benchmarks. No list of new features, No detail on setting up a server running it.
    Heck it was more of a bad press release than a review.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  3. Re:BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, from an admins point of view, the BSDs are easier to learn than any linux distribution. That is not to say they are easier to use, but they are simpler when it comes to managing the system:

    Less complicated init;
    MUCH better documentation;
    Less painful filesystem management (though LVM2 is really nice);

    The downsides are significant however:

    Bad support for esoteric hardware;
    Less vendor support;
    Fewer eyes looking over the code (though, to be fair, there is MUCH less code for them to look over)

  4. Re:BSD by PapaZit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fewer eyes looking over the code

    I don't know if this is really true. There are three major BSD "distributions" with subtle differences. Fans of each routinely look over the code for the others looking for good, "stealable" code. Not only does that mean that people are looking at the code, but informed "outsider" coders are looking at it with a critical eye. So, even if the code is reviewed by fewer people, it's reviewed by people who are more likely to notice, report, and fix bugs.

    --
    Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
  5. Server OS by eraser.cpp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    OpenBSD is really more of a server OS. Sure you /can/ use it as a desktop, but there are better alternatives. I think its strongest point is how in /etc/rc.conf one can simply change say named_flags=N to named_flags="" (command arguments could go inside the quotes) and bam! BIND is up and running. Many of these services are available in /etc/rc.conf from the default install. Thus with OpenBSD it is possible to bring up a reliable and secure server fairly quickly.