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OpenBSD 4.0 Released

Undeadly Halloween writes, "On October 18th, OpenBSD celebrated its 11th birthday and ten years of punctual biannual releases. Now it's time for OpenBSD 4.0, which includes tons of new drivers for wireless, network, and storage chips. Consider helping the project by buying the new goodies (CD set, t-shirt, poster, Audio CD). And discover what's new and what battles developers must face daily to support new hardware in the traditional interview featuring nearly 20 developers."

201 comments

  1. What a ton of stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this where all the active development is going on? The list of new/improved supported interfaces and the rest is staggering. Way to go OpenBSD!

    1. Re:What a ton of stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, they've finally caught up to where linux was in 1995. Impressive.

  2. Nice. by JoshJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Good stuff. Hopefully some of those free drivers will get spread around to Linux as well.

    1. Re:Nice. by Bastardchyld · · Score: 1

      I started using OpenBSD at 3.8 and I have been very pleased with the whole experience in the short time I have been using them. Those of you who have not tried it yet try it out, if not for this project we would not have OpenSSH, OpenNTPD, and many more, if you support no other project then support this one.

      OpenBSD

      --
      $diff terrorists hippies
      $
      $rm -rf *terrorists *hippies
    2. Re:Nice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fact is OpenBSD has become so 'nice' and so 'slick' that I can't say I feel especially elite or excited anymore when I use it. Several of the Linux distributions I deal with on a regular basis have alot more rough edges, and yes Virginia, I actually do prefer it that way. You get fewer idiots using the more complex systems. Anybody can use OpenBSD because system administration has been so simplified (I personally can't recall having to change much of anything from the defaults) and everything is in the man pages anyway. You can say 'polished' if you want, but I say BORING ....

    3. Re:Nice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      boring = stable = good production box OS
      I use it on my laptop too. I've lost interest in tweaking things left and right, and prefer a simple , straightforward, and holistic system with sane defaults.

    4. Re:Nice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gnome on OpenBSD FTW?

  3. Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, I'm yawning because I just woke up, I SWEAR!

  4. Now supporting the Amish by dsginter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whew... On the press release, under "New/extended platforms", it says:

    "OpenBSD/armish"

    I read that as OpenBSD/amish. You can imagine the visions that swirled through my head at that point.

    --
    More
    1. Re:Now supporting the Amish by Lex-Man82 · · Score: 1

      Whew... On the press release, under "New/extended platforms", it says:

      "OpenBSD/armish"

      I read that as OpenBSD/amish. You can imagine the visions that swirled through my head at that point.

      I think the BSD mascot would go down real well in Amish communities.

    2. Re:Now supporting the Amish by Renegade88 · · Score: 1

      What do the Amish have against a blowfish?

    3. Re:Now supporting the Amish by BJH · · Score: 1

      He did say "BSD", not "OpenBSD", so don't be a totally anal prick about it.
      You know as well as I do that he's talking about Chuck.

    4. Re:Now supporting the Amish by otacon · · Score: 1

      I read it the same way first, but I was thinking "what company would name a processor platform after the amish?" that would be like naming a car after a turtle

      --
      In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
    5. Re:Now supporting the Amish by ignavusincognitus · · Score: 1
      >What do the Amish have against a blowfish?

      Duh. A pitchfork.

    6. Re:Now supporting the Amish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Chuck" is not the real name for the BSD mascot. Check into it...

    7. Re:Now supporting the Amish by grub · · Score: 1


      The BSD Daemon is known as...[drum roll] BSD Daemon, not "Chuck".

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    8. Re:Now supporting the Amish by Hognoxious · · Score: 1
      that would be like naming a car after a turtle
      Like Toyota did?
      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    9. Re:Now supporting the Amish by BJH · · Score: 1

      But you still knew exactly what I was talking about, so like I said, stop being anal.

  5. biannual != semiannual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Biannual means every other year. Semiannual means twice a year. OpenBSD serves up punctual releases twice a year. Yet Another Grammatical Error on Slashdot (YAGES?)

    1. Re:biannual != semiannual by smithberry · · Score: 3, Informative

      Are you sure about that?

      See for instance http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid =Mozilla-search&va=Biannual+ which says biannual means "occurring twice a year" compare with biennial http://www.webster.com/dictionary/biennial+ "occurring every two years"

    2. Re:biannual != semiannual by otacon · · Score: 1

      See I knew that was wrong, because I was thinking my property taxes are due biannually, and I pay twice a year. I was like if thats the case then I've been pay like four times what I should be.

      --
      In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
    3. Re:biannual != semiannual by eraserewind · · Score: 1

      whereas biweekly means both "occurring every two weeks" and "occurring twice a week".
      Gotta love that precision.

    4. Re:biannual != semiannual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      From www.openbsd.org:

      The last 10 years, every 6 month period has (without fail) resulted in an official OpenBSD release making it to the FTP servers. But CDs are also manufactured, which the project sells to continue our development goals.

      So biannual it is.

    5. Re:biannual != semiannual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Just like biweekly, biannual encompasses both meanings, semiannual and biennial. You neglected to note that, in the definition for biannual linked above, biennial is a valid definition for biannual. So "biannual != semiannual" is an incorrect conclusion, as biannual may indeed mean every two years depending on the context.

    6. Re:biannual != semiannual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only are you wrong about the meaning of biannual, but even if you were right, it wouldn't be a grammatical error.

    7. Re:biannual != semiannual by ReptileQc · · Score: 1

      Biannual actually means TWICE A YEAR so the poster was right. Semi-annual is also correct.

      I had the same conversation with someone a while ago and lost (assuming that it meant "every two years"). So now I remember what it means.

      http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Diction ary&va=biannually

      reptileqc

  6. Classic question by magicnico · · Score: 1

    Cool ! can I run it on my toaster ?

    --
    This is not an automated signature. I type this in to the bottom of every message.
    1. Re:Classic question by remembertomorrow · · Score: 1

      You seem to be confusing OpenBSD with NetBSD.

      If you were attempting to troll, *looks at userid* that was pretty pathetic.

      --
      Registered Linux user #421033
    2. Re:Classic question by DieNadel · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, no... this would be NetBSD.

      Check this cool picture as well.

      I could use a security-enhanced toaster at my office though...

      --
      Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
    3. Re:Classic question by darth_linux · · Score: 0

      the cylons have their own OS i think, but it's worth a shot.

      --
      Power to the Penguin!
    4. Re:Classic question by Klaidas · · Score: 1

      No, but you can run Linux on your watch!

    5. Re:Classic question by bondjamesbond · · Score: 1

      That was so funny I forgot to laugh.

    6. Re:Classic question by magicnico · · Score: 1

      I love pathetic jokes, why do you think I read slashdot ?

      --
      This is not an automated signature. I type this in to the bottom of every message.
  7. Benefits of OpenRCS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What are the benefits of OpenRCS? Is it just that it's a BSD-licensed implementation? Have there been any performance, reliability or scalability improvements?

    1. Re:Benefits of OpenRCS? by Nimrangul · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you had read the articles linked you'd know that OpenRCS is an almost completely compatible replacement for the GNU RCS, it is a clean reimplementation. The idea being security and reliability improvements. OpenCVS will more of the same once completed, and perhaps after it's features are all complete will add additional things, but until then it is seeking only to be a complete replacement for the GNU CVS.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    2. Re:Benefits of OpenRCS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what I can see, OpenRCS's rcsdiff is slower than GNU RCS's, and because it doesn't support the -p option (which GNU RCS passes to diff), it doesn't work with CVSWeb. But I'm hoping it improves because I like replacing GNU programs on my Linux system with BSD programs. I've already replaced coreutils, ed, gzip, tar, cpio, among others with BSD equivalents. So far so good.

    3. Re:Benefits of OpenRCS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you had read the articles linked you'd know that OpenRCS is an almost completely compatible replacement for the GNU RCS, it is a clean reimplementation. The idea being security and reliability improvements.

      You stupid dipshit. The parent post was asking for more exact details. Of course it's supposed to be compatible with GNU RCS. That's fucking obvious. And yes, we know that ideally it would include improvements. But that's not always the case with software.

      I think the original poster wanted more concrete details. What sort of speed increases do we see over GNU RCS? What is the factor of such speed improvements? How much less RAM does it consume? How have they increased its security, while also retaining complete backwards compatibility?

      See, those questions were not answered in the article, and your speculation about the "ideals" of this reimplementation is goddamn useless! So quit trying to act smug. Just answer the questions if you know the exact, detailed answers, or don't post at all if you don't know the answers. Your type of stupidity is not needed here.

    4. Re:Benefits of OpenRCS? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      If the great grandparent post was asking for as statistical comparision of the two, it could have asked for one. It didn't. It asked if OpenRCS was just a new RCS under the BSD licence, I told them it's an almost, but not quite, complete reimplementation focused on not being a buggy peice of shite. That is the benefit of OpenRCS, that it's not GNU RCS.

      I don't recall there being any claims of smaller memory footprint, nor of speed boosts in OpenRCS.

      One way they are making it more secure by not using insecure coding methods, using secure functions like strlcpy, strlcat, etcetera, instead of memcpy and it's ilk. They are maintaining complete compatability in order to fully replace the GNU CVS, unlike other "replacements", like subversion.

      See, those questions weren't actualy asked in the post I responded to, your inane response to me was even less useful than a fart in a windstorm. I responded to the part that could be answered, OpenRCS is the clean BSD implementation of RCS which is not yet entirely feature complete. Had the original poster read the article, they would have known that and I would not have had reason to respond to that portion of their questions.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
  8. Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It kinda annoys me that I have to waste a whole 650MB CD-R disk on a five MB boot image... oh well. ...here I go...installing 4.0

    TDz.
    (and by the way, why can't OpenBSD boot from CD-ROM on the VAX architecture? OpenVMS can boot from CD-ROM just fine)

    1. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have a floppy drive, you can use it to create a boot floppy and do the install. I have done that countless times. But floppy drives are so yesteryear. CDs are cheap, on the other hand. You could boot from a USB memory stick if your computer supports it, but I don't think OpenBSD has an option for that method of installing. Figure out how and advance the knowledgebase by posting directions.

    2. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm... VAX architecture & USB memory stick? hahahaha the two don't go together.
      I'm not even sure if USB was invented when the last VAX rolled off the DEC assembly line.
      Anyway, I've got one machine (a 4000 m60) with a floppy...that's enough to bootstrap up a machine so I can set up a 4.0 netboot server so I can get the rest of my VAXen running

    3. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ever heard of a CD-RW? They cost pennies more and you can even.... wait for it... re-use them!!

    4. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All I have are CD-Rs
      It's 5:50am, there are no stores open right now that sell CD-RWs (does 7-11 sell CD-RWs?)
      I...Must...install...OpenBSD...ASAP...or...else... the...universe...will...implode...

      Anyhow, I've had bad experiences with my old Compaq Deskpros not being able to read CD-RWs...so I buy CD-Rs

    5. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by fnj · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but has anyone actually used CD-RWs (or even DVD+-RWs) since they were a novelty when the priginally came out?

    6. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but I'm a very strange person who does things like creating their own bootable systems.

    7. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by grub · · Score: 1


      I have a few CD-RWs and DVD-RWs that are used all the time for screeners that we watch in our divx DVD player. No point in wasting a good disc on that.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    8. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by foldingstock · · Score: 1

      It is amazingly small until you build a custom OpenBSD install/boot cd with all the available install sets. Then it is about average-sized. http://theowned.org/news.php?item.2.2

    9. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I use CD-RWs on a fairly regular basis, for test burns and for shipping medium quantities of data to other people's houses. I rarely use my (one) DVD-RW but I do occasionally do a test burn on it. It's only a 1x so if I'm in a hurry it doesn't help much; my drive is 16x :P

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by dextromulous · · Score: 1

      If you don't like 'wasting' a CD for only 5MB, you can make your own install CD, it isn't that hard. There are a lot of instructions out there, and I've even done it from Windows using Nero (just use the floppy image to make a bootable CD, then add in the rest of the files from the ftp site on the disk, burn, and boot!)

      This time, however, I decided to buy the release. I meant to for the past several releases, but this time I got off my ass and actually did it.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
    11. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by nizo · · Score: 1

      My attention span is only about 20 seconds and you probably already told me, but which divx player do you have?

    12. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by grub · · Score: 1


      Actually we have two :) A Philips DVP-642 and a newer Panasonic S52 (upconverts to 720p, 1080i). The Philips is nice but stutters on some busy screens (helicopter blades, water waves, etc). The Panasonic is very nice but doesn't play mpeg files off the disc or PAL. Also have had issues with subtitles.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    13. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Shanep · · Score: 1

      For people wanting to make bootable sparc64 CDR(W)'s:

      1. Make an ISO of the install files, with the appropriate structure (4.0/sparc64).
      2. Use 4.0/sparc64/miniroot40.fs as the boot file with NetBSD's mksunbootcd, to modify the ISO you just made.
      3. Burn the modified ISO and "boot cdrom" and install OpenBSD/sparc64 to your hearts content.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    14. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Shanep · · Score: 1

      If you don't like 'wasting' a CD for only 5MB, you can make your own install CD, it isn't that hard. There are a lot of instructions out there, and I've even done it from Windows using Nero (just use the floppy image to make a bootable CD, then add in the rest of the files from the ftp site on the disk, burn, and boot!)

      He wants to install on a VAX though. So he is much more limited with his options than i386.

      BTW, if you are going to burn your own bootable i386 OpenBSD CD, you are better off using the cdrom40.fs as a 2.88MB bootable floppy image. The 1.44MB floppy images are whittled down, supporting (and lacking support) for different bits of hardware for machines which don't have a bootable CDROM drive or 2.88MB floppy drive. The 2.88MB cdrom40.fs on the other hand, supports more hardware in the one boot image.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    15. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by dextromulous · · Score: 1

      He wants to install on a VAX though. So he is much more limited with his options than i386.

      Considering that the OP inquired about the lack of CD boot support for VAX, but was still using a CD, I would guess that they were not actually installing on a VAX using the CD.

      BTW, if you are going to burn your own bootable i386 OpenBSD CD, you are better off using the cdrom40.fs as a 2.88MB bootable floppy image.

      True, I suppose I should have said "use cdrom40.fs," but I call it a floppy image since the installation notes refer to it as: "The i386 boot and installation 2.88MB floppy image"

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
    16. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Shanep · · Score: 1

      BTW, if you are going to burn your own bootable i386 OpenBSD CD, you are better off using the cdrom40.fs as a 2.88MB bootable floppy image.

      True, I suppose I should have said "use cdrom40.fs," but I call it a floppy image since the installation notes refer to it as: "The i386 boot and installation 2.88MB floppy image"


      I call it a floppy image too. (???)

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    17. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by Shanep · · Score: 1

      True, I suppose I should have said "use cdrom40.fs," but I call it a floppy image since the installation notes refer to it as: "The i386 boot and installation 2.88MB floppy image"

      Oh sorry, I thought you were refering to the floppy images which are named floppy?.fs.

      I just noticed that you linked to instructions (unlike all the others I've seen), which use the cdrom??.fs.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    18. Re:Amazingly small boot CD by dextromulous · · Score: 1

      I call it a floppy image too. (???)

      Yeah, it is unfortunate that there is a need for so many different installation disk images for OpenBSD... I've had way too many useless arguments along these lines lately.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
  9. Laptop Vendors need to step up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The whole documentation firestorm recently didn't seem to stop their progress. The issue remains, how to get the chip vendors to provide documentation that allows writing drivers for OpenBSD in this case, and all the other OSs. Maybe the pressure needs to come from a different side.

    What would Broadcom or Intel do if Dell or Hewlett Packard told them to provide documentation for each of the chips in the laptops or desktops. If it became a business decision, no Dell laptops with a non-documented Broadcom chip, would it make Broadcom wake up? Or does this argument hit a brick wall, a) they are in bed together already and of one mind. or b) Dell/HP couldn't care less about what some minor segment of the market wants?

    Still, I like the looks of OpenBSD 4.0 and my order is on its way.

    1. Re:Laptop Vendors need to step up by Dan+Ost · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Even if they're of one mind now, putting pressure on Dell, HP, and the rest might
      make them change their minds later. The key is to make this as visible an issue
      as possible.

      Talk to the chip manufacturers.
      Talk to the OEMs.
      Talk to the people who do the purchasing for your company. If you're lucky,
      they might start asking the right questions when they place an order. That's
      the kind of thing that makes Dell/HP/etc take notice.

      --

      *sigh* back to work...
  10. real patriots run BSD by 2TecTom · · Score: 0

    imho, commercial OS's are just fascistware

    open unix rocks, and so does freedom

    --
    Words to men, as air to birds.
    1. Re:real patriots run BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Real patriots eh? OpenBSD resides in Canada and patriots all over the globe are downloading it and using it, even Syria, North Korea and Iran... how you like your freedom now?

    2. Re:real patriots run BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you do know about Patriot 2, the Military Commissions Act and Bush's recent "Executive Order" dismantling Posse Comitatus? How do you like *your* freedom now?

      This world sucks great big sweaty donkey balls. The most annoying thing is that if we spent even half as much money & effort researching and developing decent renewable energy sources instead of keep bullying the middle east for control of oil, the world would be a far far better place as the "terrorists" would have no reason to hijack/bomb/poison/WMD seven shades of shit out of us.

      We're all losing and nobody has stopped to ask why.

    3. Re:real patriots run BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sigh ... dood, I think it was meant to be ironic / funny

    4. Re:real patriots run BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nicely said! I couldn't agree more!

    5. Re:real patriots run BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Real patriots eh? OpenBSD resides in Canada and patriots all over the globe are downloading it and using it, even Syria, North Korea and Iran... how you like your freedom now?

      Sorry buddy, but this is true freedom. In this day and age, it is silly to think that Syria, North Korea and Iran could not get their hands on strong crypto and secure systems if it were not for OpenBSD.

      So your agument is completely hollow.

      I have personally dealt with restriction lists and items on them and regardless of them, they get into the "wrong" hands. Hell, some of Iraq and Iran's most serious hardware was sold to them from the USA.

      So don't give us this shit about patriotism and freedom. USA patriotism is all about money and that so called freedom is mostly hurt by it.

      BTW, you think USA or Israel is at the top of cryptography? China has some amazing cryptographers and I would hate to think what they can do in that respect which we don't hear about in the news.

  11. Re:Why support it? by evilviper · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I can't run any of the stuff I need to run under OpenBSD,

    Name it, and stop trolling.

    OpenBSD is a normal Unix system (most software compiles), supports FreeBSD and Linux binary emulation. Has Wine in ports, etc.
    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  12. Re:Why support it? by dartmongrel · · Score: 1

    how is a specialized OS a waste of resources??? If you don't use OpenBSD, that's fine by me.

  13. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well go buy a fresh copy of Vista then and STFU.

  14. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why should I care about your fu**en anal-probe stuff ?!?

  15. Re:Why support it? by DieNadel · · Score: 1

    I'm quite sure you're trolling, but anyway...

    Could you please name what applications you need to run, and at which point they stop?

    If it's not too much hardware dependant, maybe there is a way to run it on OpeBSD. It even has linux/freebsd/solaris/others binary compatibility (to some extent).

    Post your problem and I'll try to help you (if you want, of course).

    --
    Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
  16. The best feature of OpenBSD... by cucucu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    is that it can run Linux executables!

    1. Re:The best feature of OpenBSD... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Even better is you can run them in a sysjail. This way, when your Linux executable is exploited, the whole box isn't compromised.

      This is a dream for those of us forced to have to run linux executables

    2. Re:The best feature of OpenBSD... by tommasz · · Score: 1

      Just like OS/2 could run Windows executables. That didn't save OS/2 and I doubt this will do much for OpenBSD.

    3. Re:The best feature of OpenBSD... by LizardKing · · Score: 1

      Just like OS/2 could run Windows executables.

      I seem to recall having to reboot into some sort of virtual machine to run Windows under OS/2. However with OpenBSD Linux emulation, I can run a Linux executable as though it was a native one. The difference is that they they run on a more secure operating system and (at least with FreeBSD and NetBSD Linux emulation) they sometimes run faster. Now that the Sun JDK is running native on FreeBSD and NetBSD, the last reason I have for running Linux binaries on a BSD is gone - however emulation keeps the door open for others who want to run some binary only Linux app on BSD.

    4. Re:The best feature of OpenBSD... by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I think your recollection may be a little hazy, but I'm not that surprised because WinOS2 was interestingly designed.

      WinOS/2 worked in a similar way to "Classic" in Mac OS X or "Wine" in GNU/Linux. There was a subsystem that ran that ran the Windows applications within it. You had a choice in OS/2 (which is probably where the confusion lies) between sharing your desktop with Windows and OS/2 applications, or running the Windows applications on a seperate screen. Depending on the type of application you were running, frequently the latter was the only way to get the thing to work without buttons or icons being unavailable.

      There's less such legacy issues with Linux under OpenBSD because, for the most part, Linux applications are using X11 and other shared APIs to interact with the user. At the same time, I can see people wanting to run GNOME/Linux apps under a seperate GNOME/X11 instance to OpenBSD apps, given they're linking to separate libraries, and in that case, two different "screens" might be useful.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  17. Audio CD? by hcdejong · · Score: 1

    presumably this contains the installer, encoded into audio Commodore 64-style?

    1. Re:Audio CD? by risk+one · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's the binary code, read out by Morgan Freeman.

  18. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Big, stupid, ugly...LOOK!!! A troll!

    "It's a specialized OS for an extremely small minority of users."

    So, like Linux? It's interesting you mention specialized OS, then mention NO OTHER OS for comparison. XP Home, technically, is namely specialized too.

    Furthermore, one could call every Linux distro/flavor/variation a specialized OS, not to mention Linux itself hardly has a majority stake in the OS world.

    "I can't run any of the stuff I need to run under OpenBSD"

    iow, you haven't tried the OS one bit. Guess you don't run Linux either, given OBSD runs a good number of Linux apps without problem.

  19. heh by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 3, Informative

    Turns out a specialized OS for a small number of users often ends up being something that can't be easily replaced. PF has availability features no one outside of Cisco can match, and they can't match them for what it costs us to use OpenBSD for the job.

    For example, our Internet connection at work is managed by OpenBSD. If I rebooted our firewall, no one would notice, because the backup would kick in and it would preserve state for everything, even pre-existing TCP connections. You could be streaming music and it wouldn't even skip. How can I do that with Linux again?

    "I can't run any of the stuff I need to run under OpenBSD, so why the heck should I even care about it?"

    Hm. Whenever I have that problem, I just download the Linux version and run it under binary emulation.

    --
    I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    1. Re:heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OpenBSD on the desktop is pretty limited, but for server or firewall boxes the redundancy support is just fantastic! We use CARP, pfsync, and ifstated to have two redundant firewalls on two redundant net connections, with state tables all synced up and everything (if the connection goes down we have to get new state because the external IP changes, but for one of the machines/switches/net cards dying, it's totally seamless). And all this at 25% the cost of the equivalent Cisco.

    2. Re:heh by nacturation · · Score: 1

      We use CARP, pfsync, and ifstated to have two redundant firewalls on two redundant net connections, with state tables all synced up and everything (if the connection goes down we have to get new state because the external IP changes, but for one of the machines/switches/net cards dying, it's totally seamless).

      Out of curiosity, how are you implementing failover with different external IP addresses? Or is this for outbound connections only, such as internet enabling an office?

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    3. Re:heh by fo0bar · · Score: 1
      For example, our Internet connection at work is managed by OpenBSD. If I rebooted our firewall, no one would notice, because the backup would kick in and it would preserve state for everything, even pre-existing TCP connections. You could be streaming music and it wouldn't even skip. How can I do that with Linux again?


      keepalived.

      But, you know, your elitist attitude was fun too. Please, continue.
    4. Re:heh by kasparov · · Score: 1

      Lets say you have a Linux iptables firewall that does connection tracking. You allow all outbound connections, but inbound connections must be ESTABLISHED or RELATED. iptables is maintaining state there. Lets say you use keepalived for failover between two firewalls (one that is sitting there as a hot spare). In the event the first firewall crashes and you fail over with keepalived, the state information iptables tracks on the connection is gone, therefore the inbound media that you were streaming would no longer be ESTABLISHED or RELATED unless the client made another outbound connection. If I understand the parent to your comment, OpenBSD's pf has the ability to track connection state between the failover boxes, thus eliminating this problem. See this.

      --
      There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity.
    5. Re:heh by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      "Out of curiosity, how are you implementing failover with different external IP addresses? Or is this for outbound connections only, such as internet enabling an office?"

      You are correct that failover would be impossible with different external IP addresses. However, the only thing outside the cluster that notices any difference is the switch, which sees the MAC address start appearing on another physical port. CARP (common address redundancy protocol) creates what is basically a shared virtual NIC, with a shared MAC address and a shared IP address(es).

      The real MAC address can optionally have an IP address associated with it, but you do need some way of reaching backup nodes for management. It is common to give every a unique address in addition to the shared one on your internal network. For example, internal nodes might see .1 as the gateway, and this would be the shared address, with your firewall nodes using .2 and .3 for their unique addresses. Also, pfsync (the protocol that distributes state information) generally needs its own physical network (you could probably get away without this but it's not a good idea), and the other nodes are also generally reachable through there.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    6. Re:heh by trewornan · · Score: 1

      OpenBSD on the desktop is pretty limited

      It is limited to some extent but I use it without any great problem. I guess I'm probably fairly typical of a lot of computer users in the programs that I use. OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Mplayer, Xmms, Bittorrent and maybe a few others on a very occasional basis. That's perfectly good enough for my purposes: the only thing I feel is a limitation to me, is the lack of Flash support (more because of some poor website design really).

      So, limited? Yes, in some ways - but generally in ways that I don't care about. If I was into gaming or something I might take a different view.

    7. Re:heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I haven't checked out 4.0 ports yet, but in 3.9 you could use a linux binary of Opera with a flash plugin. (only Flash 7, but good enough for most sites; e.g. youtube).

    8. Re:heh by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      The flash 9 linux plugin is in beta, and apparently it works fine in a Linux binary browser on FreeBSD with Linux binary compatibility. They didn't mention OpenBSD, but OpenBSD has a fraction of the desktop users.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    9. Re:heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OpenBSD on the desktop is pretty limited

      For you perhaps. But some people, like me, prefer to avoid the likes of KDE and Gnome and just use the default FVWM window manager. I can still run some decent MUA like Sylpheed, web browsers, etc. Xterms, editors, multiple desktops, etc, etc. WindowMaker runs very nicely. As do other window managers.

      I don't find it limiting at all. In fact, I prefer it this way.

      People keep making this bogus claim that OpenBSD does not make a good desktop, when that is not true for what most people like to do. Surf the web, email, instant messaging, programming, terminal stuff, music, editing documents, etc. It depends on the person. If you want to run the latest Gnome with 3D acceleration, then look elsewhere.

      BTW, KDE works and Gnome does too if you don't want the bleeding edge. Why someone would choose the stability and consistency of OpenBSD *and*then* Gnome bleeding edge would be beyond me. May as well go the whole hog and choose Gentoo GNU/Linux for your drop-shadow fetish.

    10. Re:heh by pkplex · · Score: 1

      Right now I am in the process of replacing 8 obsd firewalls with freebsd... turns out openbsd cant route at 100Mb/s on the hardware im using ( p2-400's with 256mb ram and fxp nic's ). The problem seemed to be with something in obsd its self... I could upload to the fw at full speed, copy from the firewall to other machines full speed, but could not go thru the firewall at full speed.

      FBSD 6.1 on the exact same hardware is able to do 100Mb/s just fine, using the exact same pf rules and everything.

      OBSD seems to have a lot of interesting things added on to it, but more and more im finding its kernel or drivers or some sort of low level thing seems to be letting it down.. it seems to just be slow and bizzare sometimes.

    11. Re:heh by pkplex · · Score: 1

      Oh and "turns out openbsd cant route at 100Mb/s on the hardware im using" means speeds of around 300-500 Kilobytes per second transfers.

    12. Re:heh by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      FreeBSD's routing has seen some major updates in the last few years, they're faster than pretty much everyone (even Linux).

      At work, our P4 OpenBSD firewalls running OpenBGPD can handle the 100 megabit connection.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    13. Re:heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My Commodore 64 can't route 100Mb either. Alternatively, you could provide a system made this century for the network demands of this century.

  20. Re:Why support it? by Maniac · · Score: 1

    And have you ever tried running the wine in ports... it's a version from 1999, which no longer works, because openbsd discontinued some required kernel-patches that were needed for it.

  21. Why wont hardware vendors give out documentation? by jonwil · · Score: 1

    Has anyone actually gotten a straight answer from hardware vendors as to why they wont give out documentation? Can you build a modern x86 PC using only hardware that is fully supported by free software with no binary bits, blobs, non-redistributable firmware or missing functionality? Are there any hardware companies that DO give out documentation?

  22. OpenBSD 4.0 released? by aristolochene · · Score: 0

    It's been released ?



    That's a real shame. It'll never survive in the wild...../P

    --
    echo $SIGNATURE
  23. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > I can't run any of the stuff I need to run under OpenBSD, so why the heck should I even care about it?

    no reason, bye

  24. It'll have to be another donation by DrSkwid · · Score: 2, Funny

    T-Shirts - Hideous
    CD Set - More toxic landfill
    Posters - see t-shirts above
    Audio - got to be kidding

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    1. Re:It'll have to be another donation by dylan_- · · Score: 1
      T-Shirts - Hideous
      Actually, I kind of like the 4.0 t-shirt, but given the Mobilix affair, I wouldn't expect them to last long. Get 'em while they're hot!
      --
      Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
    2. Re:It'll have to be another donation by ecliptik · · Score: 1

      Even since OpenBSD started to "theme" each release I've been disappointed in the merchandise. The artwork is great, but it's just something I wouldn't want to hang on my wall or wear in public.

      Thankfully you can still order stuff from old releases. My personal favourite is the poster from 2.9, which is simple and illustrates exactly what OpenBSD is about but professional enough you could hang it your office. I'd buy something every release if they were more like that.

    3. Re:It'll have to be another donation by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      Parody is entirely legal, especially in Canada, the land of the free.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
  25. Re:Why support it? by endeavour31 · · Score: 1

    Stupidest.

    Response.

    Ever.

    You sir, are too moronic even for the typical /. troll.

  26. No... the best feature is the research by HighOrbit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    By research, I mean the novel approaches they take to acheive new functionality in firewalling, routing, hardware drivers, and cryptography. They also have a reputation for coding "correctness" in improving the basic BSD/Unix utilities that are then used by other projects. I tend to think of the OpenBSD project as an extremely productive research institution run on the cheap. My opinion is that they are probably on a level close to Sun and its multi-million dollar R&D in pumping out Unix inovations.

    No, I don't run OpenBSD myself right now (I have in the past), because I currently have no compelling need of its unique features that would justify me moving away from the comfort of apt-get for binary updates. The source-only updates are my only real complaint about OpenBSD, and even that is because I'm basically too lazy to deal with it myself.

    1. Re:No... the best feature is the research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The source-only updates are my only real complaint about OpenBSD, and even that is because I'm basically too lazy to deal with it myself.

      If you are referring to packages, OpenBSD has a system for binary updates so you don't have to compile from source. Set PKG_PATH to your preferred repository, then pkg_add -ru to see what packages have updates.

    2. Re:No... the best feature is the research by Calinous · · Score: 1

      Some people love the source-only updates, as witnessed by the increase of the gentoo community :)

    3. Re:No... the best feature is the research by Doctor+Memory · · Score: 1
      My opinion is that they are probably on a level close to Sun and its multi-million dollar R&D in pumping out Unix inovations.

      Hmmmm, not sure I'd go that far. The OpenBSD group is very good at taking current (or legacy) software and improving it (often by an order of magnitude, however you'd measure that). However, I don't expect to see anything like ZFS coming from them anytime soon.

      DTrace, though, hmmmm, maybe...
      --
      Just junk food for thought...
    4. Re:No... the best feature is the research by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

      However, I don't expect to see anything like ZFS [sun.com] coming from them anytime soon.
      DTrace [opensolaris.org], though, hmmmm, maybe...

      Sun is in situation whne it does some things because it cannot do anything else. They have lost focus many years ago - and have bumpy road ahead of them trying to regain it.

      On other side, OpenBSD is moved by need. The development is advanced by people with specific set of needs and goals. They do not lose focus - loss of focus would mean absence of developers willing enough to solve problems.

      Personally me, Unix addict, hardly see any benefit of dtrace or zfs. DTrace is nice, but in real life and real work I really really seldom needed tool like that. In fact, OSS does need it even less: it is proprietary binary software which requires heavy hacking to understand problems occurring. (With OSS you can jump on mail list and ask others - probability of good answer is higher than that from proprietary tech support). On file system front, I think, if OpenBSD people would want something - they would adopt e.g. ext2/3/4 - and they would be much better with it in long term. Native Linux file system is open, feature-complete and since ext2 well documented.

      After all, let's not forget that out of all *BSDs, OpenBSD is least politicized and most pragmatical.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    5. Re:No... the best feature is the research by Doctor+Memory · · Score: 1
      in real life and real work I really really seldom needed tool like [dtrace]

      Well, I don't know what kind of "real work" you do, but I develop software and dtrace is like a gift from above when you really need it. Even if you do have the source to everything, you can't just jump on a mailing list when the software that isn't working is stuff you wrote yourself. And even with source, sometimes it's easier to trace through some system calls to get a feel for what's going wrong than it is it meditate over the code.

      I wasn't suggesting that OpenBSD needed to adopt ZFS, I was just commenting that I didn't think the OpenBSD team would engage in something as blue-sky as developing an advanced file system. Like you, I think they're more motivated by pragmatism, and would be much more likely to adopt an existing file system than create a new one from scratch.
      --
      Just junk food for thought...
  27. Theo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think a big part of these problems are not more complicated than Theo's breathtaking disability to relate to others, treat people friendly and helpful, and simply behave in an _adult manner_ instead of the childishly abrasive and arrogant way he's known by.
    Theo, stop going about everything and everyone with a friggin' pair of blinkers on your head - others might just open up to you (and your projects') benefit by simply being nice, instead of being a jerk. It's called being a peoples person, and it usually gets you ahead instead of being set back.

    Nice release, though! Just waiting for the recent 3.9 errata to be patched up for the stable branch...

    1. Re:Theo by ari_j · · Score: 1

      Theo being childishly abrasive and arrogant? You're kidding! Check out this masterpiece of social graces.

    2. Re:Theo by carlhaagen · · Score: 1

      and in his usual fashion of complete social ineptness i guess he did not even have the common decency to apologize for his own mistakes and shitty attitude?

      it's interesting how a single rotten apple can spoil an entire basket. i know a few business who simply because of his unfriendly "aura" displayed in situations of seeking support etc. chose another solution. the worst part about it is that theo and his equally minded minions usually go "yeah and? as if the openbsd community cares LOL", which really says everything about what kind of a user attitude an orginazation should NOT have.

      anyone recall theo's raving discussions about how closed source vendors refuse to consider the little users as users, and refuse to help out? ironically that is the exactly same behaviour theo sports towards other people :) oh, the narrowminded ones...

    3. Re:Theo by rbanffy · · Score: 1

      You know... It would be fun to have a Theo x RMS deathmatch.

    4. Re:Theo by Ant+P. · · Score: 1

      Oh, you mean like how he got pissed off when certain companies started preinstalling OBSD on machines and then told their customers the BSD mailing list was their support forum, without even the courtesy to tell anyone on the list what they were in for?

      I can't blame Theo at all for how he responds to greedy bastards like that.

    5. Re:Theo by carlhaagen · · Score: 1

      no, that's not the situation i referred to, but in either case theo's stuck up attitude encompasses so much more than just something this small.

  28. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by archen · · Score: 1

    I think most people already know the reason when they look at nVidia and ATI. They're violating an assload of patents. Anymore I'm not sure that most of these companies care so much about giving away the specs, as giving away information for patent infringement. And lets face it, if you make almost ANYTHING you are probably infringing. Why incur an additional cost just for some crazy hobbyist programmers?

  29. SGI port? by saintlupus · · Score: 1

    Is anyone running the SGI port? I just got a couple of decommissioned O2s from work, and I'm wondering what to install on them.

    (I've already got one running Irix at home, so that's covered.)

    --saint

  30. Does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... but does it run linux?

    1. Re:Does it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It'll run linux binaries...

  31. Version numbering? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anybody else think its a bit of a coincidence that 2.9 was followed by 3.0 and 3.9 was followed 4.0? I mean, why bother with the "."? :-)

    1. Re:Version numbering? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      Because that's the versioning number system selected when the project began. All version numbers do is help people differentiate the various releases of software, it could have been entirely alphabetical versioning if they wanted, E.A could work just as well as 4.0 I suppose, because it means just as much.

      It's not like the numbering system is confusing, works better than the Linux one.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
  32. Openbsd sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    openbsd sucks

  33. Re:Obligatory BSD is dying quote by ettlz · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Something of a tradition around here, eh?

  34. Re:Why support it? by evilviper · · Score: 1

    Fair enough... No Wine, then.

    I doubt the great majority of Unix users make use of Wine, anyhow.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  35. Re:Why support it? by Calinous · · Score: 1

    Yes, OpenBSD was not created for one to run everything under it. While it won't give Linux a run for its money (not to mention Windows), OpenBSD has a very well delimited market niche. If you have a use for it, it's perfect. If not, it's not Use the best tool for the job

  36. Re:Why support it? by IdleTime · · Score: 1

    Oracle RDBMS
    Cisco IP Communicator
    Any brand of SQL based tools. Take your pick!

    --
    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  37. Re:Obligatory BSD is dying quote by chroot_james · · Score: 1

    Apple is BSD you dolt.

    --
    Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
  38. Who gives a shit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OpenBSD 4.0 Released

    Who really gives a shit?

  39. I had a lot of fun with Linux in my 20's... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But now that I'm older I want the stability and security that only OpenBSD provides. ;-)

  40. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    However, the best database around (PostgreSQL) runs perfectly on OpenBSD. It even has a nice BSD license, which is all the sweeter.
    The "commercial shits"[1] don't support OpenBSD and they actually only support some very specific Linux distros and releases. If you deviate from those in any way, you're SOL. That's what you get for banking on commercial shits.

    [1] c.f. wth-radio-humppa.mp3 :-P

  41. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    Simple
    WiFi cards. May run into issues with the FCC since they are are supposed to be not "easily modifiable by the end user".
    Graphics cards. May use technology from another company that is under an NDA.
    DMCA. Intel has released all the documentation for their graphics chips except for the MacroVision part.
    And last but not least, cost. It costs money to release documentation. Frankly for most companies the Linux OpenBSD market isn't worth it.
    The simple answer is no. If you build an all Intel system then you will be very close to your goal. If you want WiFi use a Proxim card.
    You will be missing the ability to play DRM video but other than that you will be okay.
    However the no binary bit is IMPOSSIBLE.
    Sorry but unless you flash your Motherboard with a new BIOS and you do not have a single FPGA or other programmable logic chip on any board that you add to your system you will have some closed binary code somewhere, even if it is the in the microcontroller in your mouse and keyboards.

    A totally open system doesn't currently exist. I don't see the big issue with some binary blobs. If they are just field upgradeable code for a PLD or an embedded cpu I don't see the problem.
    Even such over the top zealots as Theo and RMS have never raged about the microcode in the CPU, the logic code in PLDs, or the masked code in microcontrollers.
    So if you want a totally open system I suggest you get out your soldering iron. Otherwise pick the best compromise between open and function you can. As I said an Intel mother board with an Intel GPU is your best start.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  42. Re:Why support it? by Tweekster · · Score: 1

    So why are you posting?
    seriously, did you think you HAD to post on every slashdot topic or something?

    why dont you go waste your time elsewhere, no one cares about your opinion on OpenBSD.

    --
    The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
  43. Re:Why support it? by IdleTime · · Score: 1

    Thank you for those kind words, sir. I happen to work for Oracle, so any other database is not an option. You may find that hard to believe but...

    --
    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  44. Re:Obligatory BSD is dying quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BSD is totally uber solid. I got servers which I have never shut down since 2001 fool.

  45. Re:Why support it? by nacturation · · Score: 1

    I happen to work for Oracle, so any other database is not an option.

    Well, I suppose you could just keep on complaining about how OpenBSD doesn't run Oracle or you could ring up good old Larry and get him to start supporting it. Either way, complaining about how it's not useful for your purposes is about as useful as someone complaining that they can't haul around two tons of construction equipment in a Prius. Right tool for the right job and all that. This isn't your tool.

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  46. Re:Why support it? by IdleTime · · Score: 1

    No shit Sherlock!

    Why do you think I said it was not useful since it doesn't support any of the tools *I* need to run? geeezz Some people are just not very bright!

    --
    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  47. CVS reimplementation???? by r00t · · Score: 1

    Yuck.

    CVS has already been replaced by subversion (SVN). CVS sucks horribly. Subversion only sucks a little bit.

    I could see doing a BitKeeper or ClearCase reimplementation maybe. Let CVS pass into history.

    OpenBSD/amish indeed...

    1. Re:CVS reimplementation???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CVS hasn't been replaced by subversion in OpenBSD, nor FreeBSD, nor NetBSD, nor many other very large projects. If you read the Subversion code, you would see it sucks more than 'only a little bit'.

      OpenCVS will have many improvements over GNU CVS. The code is readable, for one thing.

  48. Re:Why support it? by nacturation · · Score: 1

    Your comment is not very useful for me, so I'm replying just to let you know that it's not useful. Your reply was a specialized comment for an extremely small minority of readers. What a waste.

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  49. it fits though by r00t · · Score: 1

    They proudly announce a reimplementation of CVS.

    Let me repeat: CVS. In 2006.

    The CVS replacement is already here. We call it Subversion or SVN. It works like CVS, but with several nasty defects removed. Most of us are hoping that CVS will pass into history, to be remembered only on wikipedia.

    If you want to reimplement a version control system, you could pick something non-free that doesn't already have a free clone. You could pick BitKeeper or ClearCase, neither of which are 100% sucky or obsolete.

    So yes, "amish" fits well.

    1. Re:it fits though by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually cvs works pretty well, and everyone is familiar with it. It's main shortcoming is that you can't rename files, which I expect OpenCVS to fix.

      P.S. I've used Subversion and it is highly overrated.

    2. Re:it fits though by rpbailey1642 · · Score: 1

      Their CVS implementation is BSD-licensed and has been/will continue to be fully audited for security purposes.

    3. Re:it fits though by raddan · · Score: 1

      The OpenBSD source repository is already in CVS format, everyone knows how to use it, and it works. What's needed are bug fixes. Hence OpenCVS. What you'll find out if you stick around with BSD for long is that the developers like new features in the OS, but hate them in the toolchain.

  50. Re:Why support it? by Da+VinMan · · Score: 1

    Just out of curiosity, how would you define that niche?

    --
    Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
  51. OS/2 OpenBSD comparison silly by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Just like OS/2 could run Windows executables. That didn't save OS/2 and I doubt this will do much for OpenBSD

    That is a silly comparison. OS/2 tried to compete against Windows, OpenBSD does not try to compete against Linux. OpenBSD does its own thing and doesn't really care what others do. It helps to keep in mind that the OpenBSD folks are a little more mature (obviously referring to the community at large and excluding Theo :-)) and are religious only when it comes to security, not regarding platforms. As a matter of fact they tell newcomers to develop for Linux and let their app run under emulation, that it is pretty unlikely that the newcomer needs the performance advantage of running natively and should go for a larger market instead.

    BTW, Linux emulation is more of a *BSD thing, not OpenBSD specific.

  52. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Just out of curiosity, how would you define that niche?

    Pretentious script kiddies who sit around in IRC all day pretending that developing a non-functional OS is the same thing as developing a secure one.

    Guess what, Theo; MS-DOS hasn't had "a remote hole in the default install" EVER!
  53. Binary drivers and get them out of the kernel by charnov · · Score: 1

    Dell, et al. HAVE documentation. They signed legally binding NDA's and contracts. There is serious money involved. I still don't get why everyone thinks the community should be the ones to wirte the drivers. Make a stable ABI and allow manufacturers to write the drivers as they see fit and protect their IP.

    Other options is for OS people sacrifice any ability to work in their field and sign life-long NDA's and non-com's to gain acess to the info or have bounties to raise the millions to BUY the information and form business contacts with manufacturers. Personally I would like to see a fully functioning HAL and pull nearly all drivers out of the kernel and rewrite the ABI to use Windows drivers. We would never have an incompatibility again.

    --
    [RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
  54. Actually, the BEST feature of OpenBSD is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...the fact it keeps the rest of the world from having to deal with Theo De Rat and his myopic band of anti-social retards!

  55. BSD vs GPL ... by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Oh, you mean like how he got pissed off when certain companies started preinstalling OBSD on machines and then told their customers the BSD mailing list was their support forum, without even the courtesy to tell anyone on the list what they were in for? I can't blame Theo at all for how he responds to greedy bastards like that.

    Although I prefer *BSD to Linux for anything beyond consumer desktop type usage (ok, maybe embedded too), think Apple made a wise choice to go BSD rather than Linux, believe that the BSD license is truly free while the GPL is restrictive but benevolent, I have to say I have little sympathy for Theo. This is the trade-off you make by going BSD. Freedom means everything does not go your way, that others have the right to be a-holes. Suck it up, explain what is going on to the new users, and try to sell them CDs, t-shirts, etc. Take the glass is half full view and look at these newcomers as potential future customers, or at least that they are growing your platform's market, increasing the network effect, making it easier to bring others in who will be your customers.

    1. Re:BSD vs GPL ... by Reziac · · Score: 1

      As you imply, freedom doesn't mean "free only when you play nice the way *I* want you to".

      GPL is good for preventing code-hoarding, but BSD is better for being truly free of all encumbrances (other than acknowledging antecedents).

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  56. Developer laments: What Killed FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    The End of FreeBSD

    [ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

    When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

    Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

    FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

    It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

    So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

    Discussion

    I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

    From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

    There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

    Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

    Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

    Shouts

    To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

    To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It

  57. Re:Obligatory BSD is dying quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    n0 \/\/3'\/3 g0+ $3r\/3r$ +h@t y00 n3\/3r $h|_|+ d0\/\/n $|nc3 2oo1!

  58. Re:Why support it? by LurkerXXX · · Score: 1

    You work for Oracle, and you are complaining it doesn't work under OpenBSD? The fault is your companies, not OpenBSD's. Geez, have your company support the platform or stop bitching about something completely rediculous.

    It's like someone working for a Winmodem manufacturer complaining they don't work well under *nix. Duh, write some supporting drivers since you are the one with the documentation and are the ones supporting the product. The documentation for the OS is already out there and available for anyone to use.

    What an idiot.

  59. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by Geekboy(Wizard) · · Score: 1

    lets set some definitions before we start talking.

    microcode: a binary piece that is loaded directly into the hardware
    binary blob: a binary piece that is loaded directly into the kernel

    microcode is fine. any OS on any arch can do that (provided it has the appropriate hardware, natch). you bought a kick ass RAID card? sweet. Vendor 'designed' it to run only on i386. you want to put it into your sparc box.

    if the vendor requires a binary blob, you're screwed. so you take it back and get your money back.

    if it requires microcode, your OS may already have a driver for it. add a few ntoh(), sprinkle with 32bit alignment, and you're in buisness. same driver works on a few dozen other archs than what the original vendor designed it for. glories of glories its fast and stable.

    in binary blob land, the vendor made it work with a few dozen OSs, with strange little quirks all over the place. not the most stable, not the fastest.

    with microcode, a developer can get a burr in his ass, and rewrite the entire driver. 10% the size, speed is now limited to how fast the platters move and how fast the PCI bus is. and also magically works with device independant code (read: bio, sensors, etc). oups, now it happens to be 64-bit clean, and can swap endians.

    hmm. its offtopic from the parent post, but this is slashdot, not like anyone will notice ;)

  60. Hardware Crypto Accelerators by bhima · · Score: 1

    Is anyone using a hardware encryption accelerator with OpenBSD? I'm considering a purchase but finding good information has been somewhat problematic.

    --
    Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    1. Re:Hardware Crypto Accelerators by raddan · · Score: 2, Informative

      I have a Soekris vpn1401 and it works well, although I don't believe all the features are supported. IIRC, this is because hifn has not been forthcoming with their documentation. The vpn1201 is known to work as well. I'm not sure if later revisions (like the lan1461) work-- OpenBSD does not have a good relationship with hifn at the moment. BTW, I haven't done any benchmarking with my 1401, but the machine handles crypto much faster with than without it. That's all I can say.

  61. Re:Why support it? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    Okay... Well I can see your point. Goodness knows that everybody on the planet runs Oracle! I mean it is right up their with Firefox...
    It also doesn't run Solidworks, Halo, or Microsoft Word!
    Yes so it doesn't run a high end commercial RDBMS! Good grief and you claim it is a niche operating system for that reason!
    I don't use OpenBSD but good grief folks their are people that do and find it very useful. If you don't then don't use it but stop complaining about it!

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  62. WooHoo! by PhraudulentOne · · Score: 1

    I love OpenBSD, and now its time to build a couple of new, shiny pfsync boxes!

    Congrats on a great new release!

    --
    You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
  63. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    I do understand. The thing is I don't think Theo does.
    He was complaining about the WiFi chipset that the one laptop per child program was using. At run time it loads a binary file into the wifi chipset that gets executed on an arm core. He was using the term binary blob for that even though it was NOT being loaded into the kernel or even executing on the host CPU. I don't see the difference between this and the code being in flash except it is cheaper and will run faster out of ram than flash. So you see it is related to the idea of binary free hardware in relation to OpenBSD.
    I still stand by my statement that if you want a somewhat modern open system your best bet is to use an Intel video card which means an Intel CPU.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  64. A closed-source driver by warrax_666 · · Score: 1

    is a useless driver when the main focus of your OS is security. Remember the local root exploits in NVidia's drivers?

    --
    HAND.
    1. Re:A closed-source driver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Remember the local root exploits in NVidia's drivers?

      Fixed in the betas. Which would enjoy a faster release cycle if the Linux kernel wasn't such a gratuitously moving target.

  65. Why no torrent download? by WhiteDragon · · Score: 1

    They don't seem to offer any torrent downloads, which I think most people would find somewhat odd in this day and age. In addition, they don't even seem to publish MD5 and SHA1 checksums of the discs, which I personally think is especially odd due to the security focus of the OS.

    --
    Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
    1. Re:Why no torrent download? by bhima · · Score: 1
      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    2. Re:Why no torrent download? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    3. Re:Why no torrent download? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      Well, there is no torrent support in the default install of OpenBSD, and it's not the kind of protocol to fit well on a floppy drive with everything else - the core implementation is in python of all things, not so tiny. It's also not stable, bittorrent is still changing. And the licence is not very free, the BitTorrent licence is actually kinda wordy, which OpenBSD hates. Ftp and http work just fine however, they're available under the BSD licence in C and they're actually standardized. Those Linux distributions, Ubuntu, SuSE, Fedora, whatever, are not OpenBSD, what they do doesn't mean anything to OpenBSD - they let you download .isos, OpenBSD doesn't.

      So why should there be torrents of OpenBSD, regardless of what the day and age is?

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    4. Re:Why no torrent download? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1
      So why should there be torrents of OpenBSD, regardless of what the day and age is?

      Because it would save Theo a heck of a lot of bandwidth?

    5. Re:Why no torrent download? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      Theo doesn't pay for the bandwidth provided by the University of Alberta, or any of the other big mirrors. Theo's bandwidth is likely based almost entirely in cvs runs from developers and his initial uploads of releases and snapshots to mirrors.

      This would drain users bandwidth without saving Theo any - it would be a cd-only option, since bittorrent is too big to support on a floppy. Most everyone netinstalls via floppy, so it's work that would benefit few and would not do what you suggest, got anything else?

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    6. Re:Why no torrent download? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1
      It's also not stable, bittorrent is still changing.

      Base protocol is stable thru last 4 years or so.

      It is advanced features which are changing: UDP support, traffic encryption, DHT decentralized network, various accelerations and improvements.

      But simple client doesn't have to (and doesn't) support all that.

      As Linux distros have showed over time, BitTorrent is one of the simplest ways to manage mirrors. Or to put it plainly: BT replaces mirroring and removes need for management. Throw RSS into the mix - and everyone would notice fresh files even faster.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    7. Re:Why no torrent download? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

      the core implementation is in python of all things, not so tiny.

      Get a life man. protocol != implementation.

      There are BT protocol implementations in C, C++ and Java.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    8. Re:Why no torrent download? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      The GPL licensed implementations, even the one in C, are unacceptable because they're GPL licensed. Also Java stuff is not included in the base install of OpenBSD, that's worse than Python.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    9. Re:Why no torrent download? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

      Hm. So what BSD then uses for compiling??? Isn't it GNU Compiler Collection licensed under GPL?

      If you are licensing zealot - FSF/GNU would welcome you any time. They are full of it. BSD folks au contraire are pragmatical - and use whatever fits best their needs. (And that's actually why they use BSD license: it fits their needs and it is extremely pragmatical.)

      Including BT client into disto make sense just to pilot it and see would people use it at all. And if there would be interest (and normally there is interest on both sides: users and mirror admins) BT can be reimplemented under BSD license - in whatever language you like/under any license you like.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    10. Re:Why no torrent download? by Nimrangul · · Score: 2, Informative

      You obviously don't know OpenBSD, it's the one that gets new drivers for wireless cards and removes ipf because of it's developer's interpretation of his licence. It's the one that will never move to a newer version of Apache, since it's licence is too restrictive. It's the one that rewrites compress to include all the functionality of gzip, just so it can remove gzip, and it's done the same for size, and diff, and grep...

      The gcc is one of the last remaining non-BSD licensed bits in OpenBSD, OpenBSD has actively removed GPL and other licences from their codebase. No new GPLed software will ever be added to OpenBSD. If there was anything close to as portable as GCC and was BSD licensed, it would quickly get adopted and replace the GCC in OpenBSD. Tendra is nowhere near good enough and it is a long way away from being there, the kencc of plan9 is desirable, but under too restrictive of terms. OpenBSD developers have sought Bell Lab's release of the compiler under BSD-like terms, but without sucess.

      While both NetBSD and FreeBSD lack in the constitution to be a BSD, instead seeking to compete and perhaps be a Linux distribution, by including binary blobs, Project Evil and various CDDL and APSL bits. OpenBSD is the fighter, it's the FSF of the BSDs and hates the viral and restrictive nature of the GPL. It also hates the increasingly bad support for non-i386-based hardware, thus it having to ship two gcc versions.

      Really, if the developers cared about BitTorrent, it would be reimplemented and in the base - obviously that is not the case. So if someone wants it integrated, they would have to make the implementation, having it be in C and licensed BSD, and submit both a patch set to integrate it and an explaination of why they think OpenBSD developers ought to give a damn.

      Even then, if the developers didn't want it, it wouldn't be integrated.

      But as I said, you obviously don't know OpenBSD, or you'd have known that is how things work there.

      Also worth noting, OpenBSD is not a, "distro," it's a fully functional, self-contained operating system. It's ps is the OpenBSD ps, not the GNU one, or the FreeBSD one, or the OpenSolaris one, or the Darwin one, but the OpenBSD one. The same goes for pf, cat, arp, ifconfig and the other bits and bobbles inside, true, there are programmes from external sources, such as bind, apache and gcc, but those are the exception rather than the rule.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
  66. Re:Why support it? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

    I thought port wine is better the older it is...

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  67. Yeah, right on. by Generic+Player · · Score: 1

    I mean, look at how all the vendors are giving docs to the friendly happy teletubby OSs right? Oh wait, they aren't. They treat their paying customers like shit. Just because you like being treated like shit, doesn't mean those who don't like it shouldn't do something about it. These companies have had plenty of friendly requests for docs. Only after lying for months does it get to the point where Theo resorts to publicly displaying these companies lies, and asking their customers to help request docs.

  68. OpenBSD is free as in beer? by technicalandsocial · · Score: 0, Troll

    It doesn't take more than a 5 minute search to find evidence of Theo outting Intel, and more recently sun for NOT donating enough to make Theo happy. So what does he do? He outs them in a public forum in an accusatory fashion. I don't feel you can claim your OS is free if you harass the people you've told it's free too, for money.

    1. Re:OpenBSD is free as in beer? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      It's not for donating you dipshit.

      You should learn to read that evidence you found about Theo outing Intel and Sun. It's over them being lying dicks, not for not donating. Intel claims to support open source and yet doesn't actually do shit to really help open source, they give lip service. Theo doesn't like that, so he talks to them, they ignore him, then he fumes about it, he tries to get them to change their ways, they ignore him still, then he tells anyone who will listen how they do not cooperate, how they are not actually supporting open source. I don't see money being listed in there for Intel's outing, and Sun's is the same story. Perhaps if you bothered to read before typing, your trolls would work better.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    2. Re:OpenBSD is free as in beer? by technicalandsocial · · Score: 1
      It's not for donating you dipshit.


      "Now that's all fine and dandy, but if Sun saved so much money why don't they help us out a little bit, so that we can make OpenSSH even better? " - Theo

      namecalling and "if only you knew what you're talking about.." is your reply? If that's all you have please keep it where it belongs. You've just done the exact same thing Theo does.
      Theo has outted Sun for not donating enough to his satisfaction. I find it interesting that Theo still doesn't state what is acceptable to him, i.e. what amount of money he will find acceptable in order to stop humilating them in public.

      I understand Theo is mad that Sun has incorporated OpenSSH into Solaris, and not given Theo enough money to his liking. I understand Sun is a large company with more money than Theo, but you can't clain something is free and then demand money for it in a public forum. If Theo wants money, especially the fact he EXPECTS it, he should stop claiming it's free, charge what he wants for it, and quit whining.
      I won't use OpenBSD simply because I don't want to be outted in a public forum for using what is advertised as a free OS that isn't really free. I've shown money is expected. It's either free for everyone or it isn't.
    3. Re:OpenBSD is free as in beer? by Nimrangul · · Score: 1

      That is Theo complaining that a company that profits from his and other people's efforts don't do anything to help. That's not a public shaming, that's Theo complaining about a company who flip-flops between being pro- or anti-open source all the while enjoying it's benefits never so much as making a public thank you.

      Theo's real gripe is in Sun talking like it's pro-open source and never giving out proper documentation or assistance to his project. Sun gave some hardware running Solaris to the pkgsrc people so they could compile more packages for on Solaris - Sun's never even offered to give access to a Solaris machine for portable OpenSSH development.

      Shock of shocks! He's mad at Intel for much the same thing, not so much for taking the source and shitting on him as saying they support and help open source, while shitting on him.

      Theo outted Sun because they've been pissing him off for years, just look at the quality of all that Sparc III documentation, oh right, there is none.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    4. Re:OpenBSD is free as in beer? by amunix · · Score: 1

      IMHO, Theo's statement is not about demanding money, but a complain about how Sun shamelessly uses OpenSSH, but doesn't contribute back in any way. This attitude can be aligned with un-ethical business behavior, though this is not an obligation on the part of Sun to contribute back because of the free nature of the software.

      Though Theo sounds morally preaching in many cases, I am perfectly fine with it - because morals' are the foundation stones of our society. Oh, well, now do I see someone arguing that "my morals might not be same as someone elses?"

  69. Put the crack pipe down. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Subversion only sucks a little bit? What alternate universe did you get your subversion from? Subversion is a huge bloated pile of crap, with almost no benefits over CVS. CVS with renaming is all most people wanted from svn, and instead we got a mess. If opencvs replaces the buggy and security hole filled GNU cvs, that's great.

  70. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I read that same interview, and in it de Raadt accepts the use of firmware/microcodes in binary form as long as they are permissible to be distributed by OpenBSD. What he was railing against was the fact that the documentation for the chipset was provided under an NDA.

  71. Nice try. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except that keepalived can't do that. Its just a very simple, and not very good load balancer. It doesn't sync states, and it pukes and loses existing connections when you try to reload its configuration. When I got here one of my first projects was to replace the terrible keepalived setup they had been tricked into using by a linux zealot. They were planning on coughing up the money for a commerical solution, but I just reinstalled those same 2 boxes with openbsd instead and they have been working perfectly ever since.

  72. Old T-shirt is much better, Puffy is not for me by MrBoombasticfantasti · · Score: 1
    If the old T-shirt with the Daemons Head was available I would buy one now. There is something about the Puffy mascot that just puts me off.

    And Pufferix? Come on, wasn't there a Linux distro that got into major trouble over the -ix postfix? And that was without the visual representation of the cartoon character.

    So, anyway, what I'm saying: get rid of the stale Puffy, get back to the roots with The Daemon.

    --
    !ERR: Signature not found.
    1. Re:Old T-shirt is much better, Puffy is not for me by Shanep · · Score: 1

      If the old T-shirt with the Daemons Head was available I would buy one now.

      Do you mean this one?

      This shirt was unavailable for a short while, but it's been available again for some time now.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    2. Re:Old T-shirt is much better, Puffy is not for me by MrBoombasticfantasti · · Score: 1

      I meant the red one actually. However, this one might do as well.

      --
      !ERR: Signature not found.
  73. Re:Obligatory BSD is dying quote by raddan · · Score: 0, Troll

    Not really. Mac OS X is Mach-O/BSD with a GNU, BSD, and Apple userland. Actually, it's pretty fucking weird, especially if you think you can carry a lot of your BSD knowledge over to Mac OS. I mean... bash is the default shell. That's pretty un-BSD if you ask me.

  74. Re:Why wont hardware vendors give out documentatio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Theo does understand it.... With respect to binary firmware, the issue he has is that the companies do not allow OpenBSD to redistribute the firmware, not that it needs a binary firmware. The binary blob issue is not with firmware, but with closed source binary only drivers, like the ATI/nVidia card drivers in linux.

  75. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dumbass

    Oh yeah, yer Vista is no waste of resources. Go back to playing Dumbass Tycoon - you're on a roll.

  76. Re:Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at Tannhäuser Gate.

  77. The documentation sucks by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

    All chip docs suck, and it costs money to finish them and clean them up for public consumption. Vendors probably just don't see the business case.

  78. Re:Why support it? by evilviper · · Score: 1

    Well, there's certainly no better router/firewall software. Great failover software...

    And really, any server you need highly secured (ProPolice, W^X, Systrace, etc.).

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  79. Re:Why support it? by Shanep · · Score: 1

    I can't run any of the stuff I need to run under OpenBSD, so why the heck should I even care about it?

    Why the heck should anyone here care about you or your needs? Mentally balanced people who don't find something meets their needs, THINK TO THEMSELVES, "this does not meet my needs" and then move on to find something which does. Meanwhile, the mentally ill rant in the streets about religion, as if people who already adhere to that-particular-brand-of-crazy need to be re-convinced or otherwise as if people who don't, actually should care. And then there are those who come into an Internet forum to tell the whole World that they don't like Pepsi.

    Nobody bloody cares. Plenty of people on the other hand, care very much for OpenBSD.

    It's a specialized OS for an extremely small minority of users. What a waste of resources...

    Fanatastic perimeter security is not a "waste of resources". An OS with an excellent track record in security is not a "waste of resources". Web, mail, etc servers having gone through a decent security audit and running on that secure platform, is not a "waste of resources".

    I use OpenBSD for many firewalls, internal and external servers and even for my own desktops. I love it, it does meet my needs, I donate and I am very grateful for the resources people put into it. It is worth people's consideration and if they find it does not meet their needs, they can just move on. Such is life.

    They are not your resources, so why should you care? Do you use Linux? OpenSSH? There's a good chance that the OpenBSD people have contributed in a big way to something you use and you might not even know it.

    --
    War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
  80. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretentious script kiddies who sit around in IRC all day pretending that developing a non-functional OS is the same thing as developing a secure one.

    If you honestly think that OpenBSD is overall non-functional, then you have never used it before. That is a fact.

    Meanwhile, I've built a pretty nice business out of the functionality OpenBSD provides. Supporting corporates and government departments.

  81. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrong, I state for a fact that OpenBSD is non-functional because I have used it before. Programs which compile cleanly on linux and other BSDs choke up on OpenBSD, the software in their ports tree is roughly two years behind what is being used on every other free unix (with the possible exception of solaris).

    It's a FACT; openbsd dodges real security issues by replacing standard c functions with their own home-rolled obscurities, breaking source-level compatibility in the process. Instead of putting effort into implementing a level of functionality comparable to even the most dated linux they instead put energy into needless rewrites of readily available GNU software.

    It's a FACT; once you get beyond the most basic level of server functionality (which OpenBSD performs slowly) common to all Unices OpenBSD has nothing to offer.

    OpenBSD is a broken OS peddled by juvenile flame-prone IRC dorks who have managed to con people who should genuinely know better into thinking that obscure features and broken functionality is a legitimate basis for security.

  82. oh man by Cymeth · · Score: 1

    i haven't even had time to install 3.9 yet!

    --
    Can anyone recommend a good therapist for me.. er.. my schizophrenic network card?
  83. Re:Why support it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrong, I state for a fact that OpenBSD is non-functional because I have used it before.

    Non-functional for you, does not make it non-functional. It is functional for myself and many others.

    Programs which compile cleanly on linux and other BSDs choke up on OpenBSD, the software in their ports tree is roughly two years behind what is being used on every other free unix (with the possible exception of solaris).

    Way too much OSS is writen for linux, instead of being writen for portability. The ports which are old are typically difficult to maintain because they need so much work to be made portable and often the bone-headed authors refuse or ignore patches to fix it. Decently written software is very close to current and OpenBSD back-ports security patches. Postgresql is currently at 8.1.5, yet the version in OpenBSD ports is 8.1.4. In fact, 8.1.5 came out *after* OpenBSD 4.0 was frozen for the preparation of the 4.0 tag. I wouldn't be surprised if ports got 8.1.5 before OpenBSD 4.1 comes around, however I don't care. As long as security patches are back-ported.

    It's a FACT; openbsd dodges real security issues by replacing standard c functions with their own home-rolled obscurities, breaking source-level compatibility in the process.

    Name the functions OpenBSD have broken then. The OpenBSD project are really anal about adhering to standards, so they will be eager to hear your bug report.

    Instead of putting effort into implementing a level of functionality comparable to even the most dated linux they instead put energy into needless rewrites of readily available GNU software.

    Needless rewrites of insecure, bloated GNU software? Needless for you? Then why are you whining if you're not missing out on anything?

    It's a FACT; once you get beyond the most basic level of server functionality (which OpenBSD performs slowly) common to all Unices OpenBSD has nothing to offer.

    Fail-over firewalls, routers and VPN gateways (fail-over of currently running IPsec VPN's)? OpenBSD actually does make a great desktop too.

    OpenBSD is a broken OS peddled by juvenile flame-prone IRC dorks who have managed to con people who should genuinely know better into thinking that obscure features and broken functionality is a legitimate basis for security.

    Wow, these "juvenile flame-prone IRC dorks" managed to con .gov's around the World, US .mil, Adobe, Alteon, HP, Fujitsu and some banks which I am aware of, into using OpenBSD for firewalls and servers. And they are just the entities which are willing to talk about a security product they are using.