OpenBSD 5.6 Released

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by timothy on Saturday November 1, 2014 @07:38AM from the making-the-world-a-better-place dept.

An anonymous reader writes Just as per the schedule, OpenBSD 5.6 was released today, November 1, 2014. The theme of the 5.6 release is "Ride of the Valkyries". OpenBSD 5.6 will be the first version with LibreSSL. This version also removed sendmail from the base system, smtpd is the default mail transport agent (MTA). The installer no longer supports FTP, network installs via HTTP only. The BIND name server will be removed from the OpenBSD base system. Its replacement comes in the form of the two daemons nsd(8) for authoritative DNS service and unbound(8) for recursive resolver service. OpenSSH 6.7 is included along with GNOME 3.12.2, KDE 4.13.3, Xfce 4.10, Mozilla Firefox 31.0, Vim 7.4.135, LLVM/Clang 3.5 and more. See a detailed log of changes between the 5.5 and 5.6 releases for more information. If you already have an OpenBSD 5.5 system, and do not want to reinstall, upgrade instructions and advice can be found in the Upgrade Guide (a quick video upgrade demo is here). You can order the 5.6 CD set from the new OpenBSD Store and support the project.

17 of 125 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

FTP by PlusFiveTroll · 2014-11-01 07:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

>The installer no longer supports FTP
With FTP acting as fragile as glass in the world of NAT and firewalls, I don't see this as a bad thing any longer. HTTP is reliable when serving large files these days.
Thank you! by Celarent+Darii · 2014-11-01 07:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

OpenBSD is fantastic. Thanks to the developers who spend so much time to make it work well!
1. Re:Thank you! by Celarent+Darii · 2014-11-01 08:32 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  A non-extensive List of Reasons why OpenBSD is better than linux:
  1/ OpenBSD's mascot is a puffer fish. Puffer fish can kill you. Penguins are simply parasites living on property no one wants anyway.
  2/ OpenBSD's project leader has better hygiene than RMS
  3/ OpenBSD's project leader is also more dictatorial than Linus
  4/ It's BSD which means it has the karma of open source and you don't need lawyers managing each release cycle.
  5/ OpenBSD assumes the world is a bad place. Linux is just hoping no one will do something bad.
  6/ It doesn't update stuff simply because it can, but because it has to. Linux just updates stuff because they can, and stuff breaks.
  Perhaps someone else has something to add?
  Seriously, it just works. If you like what you have, keep using it! Not like I'm going to force you to quit using whatever you have.
2. Re:Thank you! by X0563511 · 2014-11-01 09:19 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  2. Does not require PulseAudio, but can still output multiple channels from multiple apps at the same time. This was always a problem with ALSA.
  dmix says hello, while flipping PA (and Pottering) the bird.
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
3. Re:Thank you! by Bengie · 2014-11-01 12:54 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You can thank OpenBSD for Linux, and FreeBSD, 64bit modes finally working. OpenBSD has a history of spearheading new tech and working out the bugs. Both Linux and FreeBSD were afraid of switching to 64bit because it would break some software. OpenBSD didn't give a crap, so lots of programs got their bug fixes. Same thing with ASLR, and lots of other modern features.
4. Re:Thank you! by torsmo · 2014-11-01 21:14 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  OpenBSD's project leader is also more dictatorial than Linus
  But unlike Linus, who can throw industrial-grade Finnish profanities at his minions, Theo's Afrikaans cuss-word-foo is weak. Something along the lines of "Jy was uit jou ma se gat gebore want haar poes was te besig" wouldn't go amiss, methinks.
pf by brynet · 2014-11-01 07:52 · Score: 5, Informative

Also related, Peter N. M. Hansteen is auctioning off the first signed copy The Book of PF, 3rd edition. He will be supporting the OpenBSD project by donating the amount raised to the OpenBSD Foundation.

http://bsdly.blogspot.com/2014...
Rde of the Valkyries? by plopez · 2014-11-01 08:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Seriously? The last ditch and unsuccessful attempt by the forces of heaven to prevent the destruction of Valhalla is not a good omen. The forces of good are overwhelmed by the forces of evil despite heroic efforts. I think Carl Jung pointed out that the Norse mythos was the only one he knew of where good does not triumph in the end. Or perhaps it was a reference to 'Apocalypse Now'. In ether case, as I said, not a good omen.

--
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
1. Re:Rde of the Valkyries? by plopez · 2014-11-01 08:32 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I don't think frost giants are good in any mythology.
  
  --
  putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
2. Re:Rde of the Valkyries? by geminidomino · 2014-11-01 10:10 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I'm not sure about Wagner's operas, but don't forget the end of the Ragnarok myth: Yes, the 9 worlds are frozen in a relentless year-long winter, then destroyed in a war where gods and ettins alike are almost completely wiped out, it's pretty glum stuff. But after that's all over, you've got the two people hiding in the world tree who come out, meet Baldur and Hodr (now back from the dead) and Thor's kids, and start over.
  It's like finally being able to throw out that crufty old pascal code-base and re-write it in $WHATEVER_LANGUAGE_YOU_WANT_THAT_DOESNT_START_A_FLAMEWAR. Not a bad omen at all. :)
Re:Systemd? by Delicious+Pun · 2014-11-01 08:23 · Score: 3, Funny

The best feature systemd has is that it is stuck in linux land. Let the kids have their bleeding edge shiny. Everyone else has the BSDs.

Are you a systemd fanboy? I don't give a fuck what you think.
Removed sendmail ... smtpd is the MTA by fnj · 2014-11-01 08:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

Just about EVERY SMTP MTA is named "smtpd". Sendmail's is, but so it Postfix', and so is OpenSMTPD's.
In case anyone wants to know, OpenSMTPD replaces sendmail as the default MTA in OpenBSD 5.6. Now how hard was that, to actually state a piece of useful information instead of a nonsense phrase conveying nothing?
Thank you! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-11-01 08:38 · Score: 5, Interesting

1. OpenBSD supports laptops, specifically Thinkpads, better than any other operating system not called Windows. Suspend/resume works, instantly.
2. Does not require PulseAudio, but can still output multiple channels from multiple apps at the same time. This was always a problem with ALSA.
3. PF is a lot easier to configure than ipfw. It is the firewall of OSX.
4. Man pages for EVERYTHING.
5. A simple init system. Whether or not it is better than systemd is debatable.
6. Not tied to any one desktop environment. Gnome 3.x is well-supported, but not requisite for anything.
7. The first place you will find updates for new wireless cards, OpenSSH, LibreSSL, libc (Android actually uses this instead of glibc).
8. Full disk encryption without requiring an unencrypted boot partition, unlike Linux.
9. Simple, text-based config files.
10. No need for HAL or *Kit or whatever flavour of the week abstraction layer is needed for interfacing with your hardware.
OpenBSD is not for everybody; there is a steep learning curve and a lot of software is not supported. But if you need a simple operating system that doesn't change much from release to release, it's worth checking out. If you are looking for an alternative to systemd (which I honestly have no problem with), check out OpenBSD before checking out FreeBSD, and I cannot stress this enough. FreeBSD developers don't use their own operating system; they run it in a Virtual machine on their Macs, and it shows. Suspend/resume has been broken there since 2008, and drivers for any recent Intel graphics adapter will not run (you cannot switch from Xorg to a console and back) properly. FreeBSD devs do not care about their OS; OpenBSD devs actually use their system.
Re: Systemd? by fnj · 2014-11-01 08:41 · Score: 3, Informative

Has our AC determined whether Kerberos is in OpenBSD ports? I am reading "Kerberos has been removed from the base system. Kerberos support will be available via a package."
Packed my bags by Anonymous Coward · 2014-11-01 08:51 · Score: 3, Interesting

When they introduced that SystemD trash in Linux, I packed my bags and moved to OpenBSD. Have not looked back.
Re:Apache by fnj · 2014-11-01 10:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

what's the big deal whether something is in base or ports? it's the same team that maintains things.
If you say it's the same team that works on bases system and ports, then I don't have the knowledge to take issue with that. I would not have guessed so, though.
At any rate, OpenBSD has this to say: "The ports & packages collection does NOT go through the thorough security audit that OpenBSD follows. Although we strive to keep the quality of the packages collection high, we just do not have enough human resources to ensure the same level of robustness and security."
I think it's a pretty big deal.
Thank you! by dbuckman · 2014-11-02 03:17 · Score: 4, Informative

I second the thank you to the developers.

What I like about OpenBSD.

There are no black boxes. I can do a "ps aux" and very easily understand every process that is running and it only takes up one page on the terminal. I use linux for my desktop/laptop and it is great for that but there are pages of processes running and I have to hunt to figure out what some of them are. If I want to understand the boot process it is well documented and I can edit a few files and figure it out.

PF. PF is a great firewall with some amazing features.

Secure. Again only processes running that I want running.

Small footprint. I just downloaded the 5.6 AMD64 iso. 227mb. It got smaller from 5.5 to 5.6. You never see that.

I find it a pleaser to work with. It doesn't make a lot of assumptions for you. Easy install. Give it a try.