Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

FreeBSD 12 Released (freebsd.org)

Posted by msmash on from the for-the-record dept.

New submitter vivekgite writes: The 12th version of the FreeBSD has been released, bringing support for updated hardware. Some of the highlights include: OpenSSL has been updated to version 1.1.1a (LTS). Unbound has been updated to version 1.8.1, and DANE-TA has been enabled by default. OpenSSH has been updated to version 7.8p1. Additonal capsicum(4) support has been added to sshd(8). Clang, LLVM, LLD, LLDB, compiler-rt and libc++ has been updated to version 6.0.1. The vt(4) Terminus BSD Console font has been updated to version 4.46. The bsdinstall(8) utility now supports UEFI+GELI as an installation option. The VIMAGE kernel configuration option has been enabled by default. The NUMA option has been enabled by default in the amd64 GENERIC and MINIMAL kernel configurations. The netdump(4) driver has been added, providing a facility through which kernel crash dumps can be transmitted to a remote host after a system panic. The vt(4) driver has been updated with performance improvements, drawing text at rates ranging from 2- to 6-times faster.

Various improvements to graphics support for current generation hardware. Support for capsicum(4) has been enabled on armv6 and armv7 by default. The UFS/FFS filesystem has been updated to consolidate TRIM/BIO_DELETE commands, reducing read/write requests due to fewer TRIM messages being sent simultaneously. The NFS version 4.1 server has been updated to include pNFS server support. The pf(4) packet filter is now usable within a jail(8) using vnet(9). The bhyve(8) utility has been updated to add NVMe device emulation. The bhyve(8) utility is now able to be run within a jail(8). Various Lua loader(8) improvements. KDE has been updated to version 5.12.

56 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Linux still playing catch up. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They still can't seem to get BTRFS working anywhere nearly as well as ZFS on FreeBSD. Plus, you get a lovely init structure with no Systemd garbage. I love it.

    1. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ZFS on FreeBSD.

      That has been nothing but an excellent experience for me.

    2. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      From the bcachefs page:

      "Performance is generally quite good - generally faster than btrfs,"

      Actually, that's wrong - phoronix did a whole bunch of speed tests. It was middle-of-the-pack or slower in a fair few instances.

      see:
      https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=bcachefs-linux-2018&num=1

    3. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by I'm+just+joshin · · Score: 2

      Except for a lack of TRIM support, and a few too many quriky bugs from the still rapidly changing code base.

    4. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

      Wish the native encryption for ZFS would be released into BSD... yes, GELI, we love you, but I wanna go native, baby.

    5. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Lady+Galadriel · · Score: 1

      I wish Linux would separate the BTRFS development tree from the production tree. Then work for stabilizing Mirroring and other current normal features of BTRFS. Use the development branch to add new features like the forever pending RAID-5/6.

      A long time ago, (2011?), I used BTRFS as my root file system for 2 of my 4 Linux computers. Not for most of the features. My main goal was to get sub-volumes, so I could perform OS updates on a writable snap shot. For me, that worked perfect and the times I had to backout a Gentoo update, it was not a killer. (My prior scheme was dual root partitions that I alternated updating. Before that, occasional full restore!).

      But, BTRFS never stablized. People were loosing data, or having serious mount problems, (fortunately not me). I saw BTRFS going into wonderland of compression, encryption and copy-on-write, (reflink), for individual files. That sounded like a nightmare to manage and maintain. The biggest reason I hated BTRFS, was that I could not tell sub-volume sizes using simple tools, like "df -h". Quota limits would have also been nice, but sizes were more important for me at the time.

      So, in 2014 I started looking at ZFS on Linux. Implementing it on one of my Linux computers, (a minature media server), worked great. Got my sub-volume sizes and quota issues 100% resolved. Plus, got some great features, like LZ4 compression, (which at the time BTRFS did not support compression). And a reliable development group, releasing updates every few months. Now for years, all my Linux computers use ZFS. Have not lost 1 byte, (and I run monthly scrubs to verify), to the file system. Perhaps a native Linux file system would be faster, but I want my sub-volumes, (aka ZFS datasets).

      With OpenZFS used and developed on 4, (soon to be 6 or 7), OSes, I feel more confident that it will be more reliable, (even on Linux), than BTRFS or possibly B-Cache.

      (And for those wondering, the OpenZFS Tier 1 OSes are FreeBSD, Illumos and similar OpenSolaris derivitives, and Linux. MacOS might be considered Tier 1, but also could be Tier 2 since little development is performed on MacOS in regards to OpenZFS. The newer ones are OSv, MS-Wiindows and possibly ReactOS, under development to support OpenZFS.)

      --
      Lady Galadriel
    6. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Lady+Galadriel · · Score: 1

      Native OpenZFS encryption definately coming to FreeBSD, (and all the other OSes that use OpenZFS). I played with native ZFS encryption on Linux last summer, (August 2017), and it was pretty stable then. But, details of ZFS send & receive, (raw verses un-encrypted), were still being worked out. And based on the ZFS on Linux github bugs, there are lots of corner cases being resolved.

      So, in some regards be happy OpenZFS on Linux is dealing with all the bugs. Whence they are squashed, the other OSes like FreeBSD, will get stablized and well documented native OpenZFS encryption.

      Just remember, this is at rest encryption. Not a pancea for all security issues.

      --
      Lady Galadriel
    7. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1

      I just put FreeBSD in a VirtualBox instance within Windows. The support for mounting a Windows folder in FreeBSD is lacking. That's a VirtualBox + FreeBSD issue. The same feature works fine with VirtualBox + Linux.

      That being said, there are workarounds such as 'scp'. In all other respects, I like being on FreeBSD. I have an XFCE desktop configured on it, and it is nice and fast.

      Also, if you just installed FreeBSD directly on the computer, you would not have to worry about VirtualBox. I would have done that if I had been starting a fresh PC.

    8. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Baki · · Score: 1

      But ZFS on Linux is working quite well too. In fact it is slightly newer, the version which includes experimental encryption support.

      FreeBSD 12 might have caught up, though the release notes didn't mention any new features so I suspect the ZFS version has not changed.

    9. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Did 12 get us native ZFS encryption on BSD?

      I would like to know, not having a Flat vs. Phillips flamewar. GELI crashes too often.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    10. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      I took a look the other day. The TODO list is where ZFS was twelve years ago. They'll be close to feature-comparable real soon now. Yeah, uh huh.

      I do think as many people as possible should fund his Patreon but some realism is necessary.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    11. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      We must not allow... a code of conduct gap!

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    12. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

      The ZFS version is a bit political. Sun originally designed ZFS with versions to enable various features along the version continuum. However, many things happened they didn't foresee. OpenSolaris was pretty much a failure (yes, one can argue *today* about Illumos but that's not in the context when ZFS was created). Now you have four groups essentially charting a different course for ZFS and only two of them really matter: Oracle and FreeBSD. Linux doesn't matter a lick since licensing issues will forever prevent Linux from fully adopting ZFS properly. Illumos doesn't matter because it has nowhere near critical mass or the needed dev talent. ZFS code in FreeBSD gets changes often and their source code repos prove this clearly. In fact, much more clearly than lets-lay-off-everyone-related-to-Solaris-at-Oracle folks at Oracle. have demonstrated in the last few years. Yes, the version in Solaris is newer and yes it has encryption. Yes, GELI isn't as stable as the encryption in ZFS in Solaris. However, keep in mind that ZFS native encryption *is* underway and will probably work in 12.1 or 12.2 at this rate. At worst, it'll be in the next major rev of FreeBSD. However, if you are holding your breath for BTRfs or trying to wave the ZFS on Linux banner, you'd better eat an energy bar or something, because you are going to be there a while.

    13. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

      No, he is just a run-of-the-mill moron. I'm from Texas. John Carmack is from Texas (well born in Kansas, but still lived most of his life in Texas). There are a lot of religious dipshits like this guy in Texas, don't get me wrong. However, the place is a mix of clay and gold like any other place. There are a lot of smart folks there, too. It's a big place.

    14. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 1

      No. It's coming soon. The stuff in HEAD is already spanking Solaris pretty badly performance-wise, though. It just wasn't tested well enough by the time 12-RELEASE came time to cut.

    15. Re:Linux still playing catch up. by x_t0ken_407 · · Score: 1

      Have used FreeBSD on all my servers (home and otherwise) since Freebsd 8, definitely worth a look. 100% recommend, as someone who manages 100s of Ubuntu boxen every day.

  2. FreeBSD by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    FreeBSD sounds great! How much does it cost?

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re: FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Your dignity

    2. Re: FreeBSD by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Your dignity

      I have no dignity, it must be free!

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:FreeBSD by SurenEnfiajyan · · Score: 1

      It's free. If it was paid it would likely be called PaidBSD.

    4. Re:FreeBSD by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      It's free. If it was paid it would likely be called PaidBSD.

      Yes, that's the point of my bad joke!

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    5. Re: FreeBSD by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      No, it means you have no currency with which to purchase increased respect from the software you use.

      It is priced in dignity because you have to be sufficiently motivated to do the extra work needed. If you have enough dignity not to be willing to suffer the vagaries of software for the masses, you might be able to afford to use this!

  3. Re:Has not changed by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FreeBSD is focused on being a traditional Unix system. Unlike a lot of Linux distribution like Ubuntu who try to be desktop or workstation that they want to compete against OS X and Windows. FreeBSD mostly stays the Pure Unix system for others to work off of.

    FreeBSD is the Chocolate Bar Operating Systems.
    Where most of the new candy out there will be based on a Chocolate bar, they will have Nuts, Caramel, nugget.... That will try to make the candy more complex for peoples particular liking, the Standard Chocolate Bar is still around and when the fad candies go away, they will always go back to the Chocolate Bar and build the next fad off of that.

    FreeBSD doesn't have too many changes that are noticeable, but they are often necessary to keep it current in today's time.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  4. Re:Wasted 15+ years of my life on that garbage. by toadlife · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nobody misses you.

    --
    I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
  5. Re:Thought it was dead by hey! · · Score: 1

    It's been subsisting on the brains of other operating systems.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  6. Love and use FreeBSD by sremick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FreeBSD has so many technical advantages over Linux. It's unfortunate that stupid things held it back in the day and caused Linux to be the one most-commonly adopted.

    From the unified kernel and userland environment, to the fantastic ports system, to the documentation, to the ridiculous stability, to the performance, to ZFS, to the LACK OF SYSTEMD... I use it anytime I can. Unfortunately its lack of popularity hold back using it as a desktop (it can be done, but it's gotten to the point that so many things have become dependent on Linux-isms and Linux has gone so off the rails with things that it's too much effort for dev teams to make alternate proper unix versions that'd run on FreeBSD and such. So you have issues with drivers for peripherals, video cards. Popular desktop environments won't compile (the only Gnome that works is an old version). No Dropbox, etc. For years though I ran FreeBSD as my primary desktop on my home computer.

    You used to see FreeBSD rule the top uptime lists, and tons of web hosting providers used it. But then when things like cPanel stopped making FreeBSD versions, that dwindled away. Now if you want FreeBSD on a webhost you're going to have to fully manage it from the ground up, and use something like Digital Ocean.

    I still use FreeBSD at home in the form of FreeNAS and pfSense. And if I have cause to build a unix server for any reason which I'd be managing from a terminal, I absolutely choose FreeBSD.

    1. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by bsd_usr · · Score: 1

      Agreed!!

    2. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      FreeBSD tends to gracefully overload. Linux tends to crash and burn. Linux is perfectly fine as long as you don't overload it. FreeBSD's performance just levels off once it reaches maximum load. Linux has negative scaling where it becomes slower past max. It's the kind of thing system admins care about but devs don't.

      Quite a few blogs from big companies that specialize in network or storage, like Netflix, where they thoroughly tried Linux. Tried every optimization, hired specialists, made their own custom tweaks, but Linux kept spontaneously blowing up under extreme loads. Think of a single server saturating a 100Gb interface while maintaining 10 million connections and creating 100,000 new connections per second. Linux' IO stacks cannot handle those loads without a major refactoring the stacks and the kernel as a whole. FreeBSD was engineered from the very beginning for these kinds of things. It's not perfect and has a lot of areas for great improvement, the structure is all there, purposefully architected and designed.

      And due to licensing, FreeBSD gets a lot more research. At least in the USA, publicly funded research must be free for all and that does not play well with GPL. FreeBSD's licensing doesn't care. This same issue also applies to many internet standards, where the sample implementation must be license compatible with everyone. GPL does not play well with others.

    3. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ... to the documentation...

      The Handbook is amazing! So much knowledge and wisdom has been accumulated in it.

    4. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by Espectr0 · · Score: 1

      From someone that actually thought of testing FreeBSD, you have effectively convinced me NOT to. I didn't know there were such a high amount of issues for desktop use!

      --
      Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
    5. Re: Love and use FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think it's been 15 years since you used a bsd. They have a very sane update path now.

    6. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by zidium · · Score: 1

      At least the open source community wised up in the last decade and most projects are using BSD's License instead of that terrible GPL crap! Coding in 2003 was a pain!

      --
      Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
    7. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      What technical advantages does it have over Linux. Most benchmarks I've seen clearly show linux has a huge advantage.

      When you see them crying over systemd, don't bother looking for these "technical reasons" that you seek. It is the neckbeard talking. And it isn't even connected to the eyes or ears. It may receive enough of the low-level vibrations to bleat back a key word, but that's as much as you're going to get out of it.

    8. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Well, if they have that much confidence, maybe they really do have a bigger e-peen?

    9. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You used to see FreeBSD rule the top uptime lists

      And then sysadmins got some common sense and rebooted to apply some kernel security fixes.

    10. Re:Love and use FreeBSD by vbdasc · · Score: 1

      I run Linux, but I don't want things that are Linux-only on my machines. They limit my freedom to move to another OS if the need arises one day, and it's a huge red flag for me. That's why I won't touch systemd with a ten-foot long pole. And I'm clean shaven, by the way.

  7. Anyone know if Netcraft's confirmed it? by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    *ducks*.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  8. Re:Has not changed by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A dark chocolate bar is Gluten Free, Vegan, and full of Carbs. Free Trade wouldn't effect its taste.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  9. Re:FreeBSD needs to fix there SSL Certificate by HiThere · · Score: 1

    That's not a FreeBSD problem, as I just went there on firefox without any complaints.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  10. Re:Wasted 15+ years of my life on that garbage. by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    Look in the mirror.

  11. Re:Has not changed by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    ...FreeBSD is focused on being a traditional Unix system....

    FreeBSD is responsible for a lot of traffic on the 'Net. https://openconnect.netflix.co...

    ...FreeBSD was selected for its balance of stability and features, a strong development community and staff expertise. All code improvements, feature additions, and bug fixes are contributed directly back to the open source community via the FreeBSD committers on our team. We also strive to stay at the front of the FreeBSD development process, allowing us to have a tight feedback loop with other community and partner developers. The result has been a positive open source ecosystem that lowers our development costs and multiplies the effectiveness of our efforts....

  12. Nice! by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    While I am first and foremost an OpenBSD user, I still consider it a win when a new version of FreeBSD or NetBSD gets released because it shows that BSD Unix continues to remain very relevant in the open source operating system world. I use FreeBSD as the OS for my NAS box and it works very well! I do both NFS and SMB file sharing from it. I haven't delved in to Net- very much but as long as development continues, it's a win!

  13. Re:Has not changed by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Dark chocolate bars are not supposed to have milk...

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  14. Sadly: it's all about the apps by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    Sadly, when Linux apps start requiring systemd, the BSDs will be nearly useless. It will happen, we all know it.

    As it is:

    FreeBSD has no dropbox client.

    You cannot count on FreeBSD to run the latest version of LibreOffice, or anything else. Often, Linux apps will not run at all.

    Not as many drivers as Linux, but that is less of a problem.

    For now, at least, FreeBSD might make a good server.

    1. Re:Sadly: it's all about the apps by Darkk · · Score: 1

      I've been using FreeNAS and PfSense for years which are great performing servers with practically zero downtime other than patches and reboots. FreeBSD is geared towards as server platform and rightfully so. To make it into a desktop not so much. I rather they focus less bloat and keeping performance high in FreeBSD than trying to support the desktop apps to muck things up. Leave the desktop to Linux as it's more supported by the community.

      Microsoft did the same thing with their Windows Server installs. Just install the "core" without the desktop GUI and it will run longer without reboots and less time to download and install security updates.

    2. Re:Sadly: it's all about the apps by mi · · Score: 1

      FreeBSD has no dropbox client.

      That's a Dropbox' problem, not FreeBSD's. But Linux has no such client any more either.

      You cannot count on FreeBSD to run the latest version of LibreOffice, or anything else

      ?? Of course, you can — the editors/libreoffice port is usually up to date (it is now, for example). Which is more than one can say about, say, RedHat RPMs. Now try installing an up to date LLVM on Debian...

      Often, Linux apps will not run at all.

      ?? By that logic, Linux is inferior, because "Often, FreeBSD apps will not run at all."

      Not as many drivers as Linux, but that is less of a problem.

      That would've been the least illogical ding, actually — if it were true...

      For now, at least, FreeBSD might make a good server.

      However accidental it may be, this is a compliment...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    3. Re:Sadly: it's all about the apps by vbdasc · · Score: 1

      when Linux apps start requiring systemd

      Just say no to Linux apps. Use portable *nix apps instead.

    4. Re:Sadly: it's all about the apps by ottdmk · · Score: 1

      Not really sure what you're talking about. I haven't upgraded to 12-RELEASE, but I'm on 11.3-RELEASE. I have LibreOffice 6.0.7... the stable release. I have Firefox 63, just because I haven't updated in two weeks (I like to compile all my stuff with poudriere) and once my upgrade run is done this weekend I'll be caught up. True, there isn't a Dropbox client. Sorry that's a showstopper for you. Otherwise, I've found that oftentimes new versions of stuff will hit the ports collection before the distros update their repositories...

  15. No systemd! by Drunkulus · · Score: 1, Interesting

    FreeBSD's stability, security, and freedom from systemd are all reasons why Linus now runs it at home.

  16. Re:Has not changed by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    That was not my own metaphor as I was not the OP.

    Secondly, if morons don't like dark chocolate bars then it's not the duty of the candy companies to taint their dark chocolate with milk, it's the morons who should buy milk chocolate bars instead.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  17. Re: They don't like hugs by fyonn · · Score: 1

    as you ask.. the ex CEO of Ted Baker apparently..
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/bus...

  18. Re:Wasted 15+ years of my life on that garbage. by zidium · · Score: 1

    Whomever gives him a hug will risk being banned from FreeBSD!!

    --
    Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
  19. Dead BSD sketch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I wish to complain about this FreeBSD what I downloaded not half an hour ago from this very website.

    Oh yes, the, uh, the 12 . What's,uh....What's wrong with it?

    I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

    No, no, it's uh,it's resting.

    Look, matey, I know a dead OS when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

    No no it's not dead, it's, it's restin'! Remarkable release, the 12, idn'it, ay? Beautiful graphics support!

    The graphics support don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

  20. Re:They don't like hugs by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    "Try it and I'll stab you." --Aiz Wallenstein.

  21. Re:Wasted 15+ years of my life on that garbage. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    I ran it on my desktop for a couple years, but it was just *nix, nothing special.

    If you needed "support," I'm surprised you'd have still been using it past the first week.

    But your aversion to Codes explains a lot. You're simply allergic to following instructions. This explains both sides; why you can't computer and need hand-holding, and why you're no good at having your hand held.

    You're right that they're garbage people. Awful, horrible, [pejorative] people. They agree. It means you're not supposed to talk to them, or try to tell them about your problems. They thank you for your understanding. But not in person. In person they're going to call the cops on you for trespassing, or at least G:line you.

  22. Re: Has not changed by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    Significant improvements have been made to virtualization including Amazon and Azure/HyoeerV since 6 or 7 including BSDs own Bhyve. SMP and the removal of big lock and updated desktop environments on the desktop end.

    Sure a Unix terminal by default looks the same since 1988 but you haven't used it for anything important.

    --
    http://saveie6.com/