Slashdot Mirror
OpenBSD 4.1 Released
adstro writes to quote from the BSD mailing list: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.1. This is our 21st release on CD-ROM (and 22nd via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of ten years with only two remote holes in the default install. As in our previous releases, 4.1 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system."
You can download a very small minimal iso and do a net install. I did it this evening -- the core system is pretty small, and comes down quickly. It's not as inconvenient as you might think.
Why don't people understand that the world of ISOs isn't practical
for EVERYTHING? They're not "refusing" anything, the OpenBSD people
provide an easy manner to obtain and install OpenBSD via ftp.
For beginners, and for people who don't understand try looking here:
http://www.openbsd101.com/
The above site is Linux user friendly.
For the same reason Linux kernels, and any other files aren't directly linked in
Just for you: ftp://ftp5.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.1/i386/c
Creating an ISO is positively trivial. The file system layout is exactly the same as the FTP tree. Just be sure to make it bootable with mkisofs -b, or whatever "bootable" check-box your Win32 CD burner program has...
Not to mention that there are dozens of different ways to install, and a bootable CD is rarely the most convenient. FTP install is quite handy.
It's only for non-x86 systems that creating bootable CDs is somewhat difficult. And even there, I'd much rather create my own multiple system CD than download an x86 ISO, an Alpha ISO, a Sparc ISO, and burn each to several different (mostly-empty) CDs.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I understand your frustration with the policy and the attitude that it might imply but let me show you the other side of the story. The OpenBSD team works very hard to produce these releases and get little support in the form of donations from large companies that use pieces of the operating system. Theo De Raadt asked Sun for a donation for one of his hackathons and was not even given the time of day. He was not even answered which is tantamount to a 'no.' Given that OpenBSD provided extensive assistance to Sun in the integration of OpenSSH and voluntarily reported bugs in Sun's version (as well as others), I think it really would have been no skin off of Sun's back to provide a donation. The principle form of income for the project to function comes from sales of OpenBSD CD-ROMS. You could still make your own ISO, but please keep in mind the hard work of this project. Honestly, 50.00 is a drop in the bucket and you help keep the future of a good project stable.