"OpenBSD 4.1 has just been released. Federico Biancuzzi interviewed several developers to discuss some of the new features for networking, active porting efforts (landisk and UltraSPARC III), work on SMP, and the improvements in spam fighting." More here.
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Member since:
2005-11-12
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I am so impressed that OpenBSD is able to make such large and continuous improvements whilst delivering THE most secure and reliable system out there.
It just goes to show how important solid software development methodologies are - and more significantly, that they can happen in open-source-community environments.
Member since:2005-11-23
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Member since:2007-02-26
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you wrote: I am so impressed to see a so small team deliver some so good pieces of software.
It speaks to the importance of having quality developers (as opposed to a team of 500 schmoes hacking away at nothing much).
The best programmers can be an order of magnitude more productive than the average ones...
Member since:
2007-04-29
Fans: 0
Running openbsd 4.0 on my server here, i have to say the biggest plus is the simplicity. While other oses get more and more complex, OpenBSD tries to stay simple. That way there are no nasty surprises. Compare PF to iptables and you see what i mean.
The thing they should improve is the ports system, the flavor system is not really easy to use. and the packages should be build for all ports & flavors, it can't be that hard.
The fixed release schedule is also a big plus. Having used debian before i really appreciate when to expect a new version.
Member since:2006-03-12
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Member since:2007-04-29
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Ngrep is bsd licensed, yet it's not available as package. forcing me to use the ports system. The postgresql version of dspam is also not available as package forcing me to do wierd flavor stuff (the mysql version is available though).
Maybe they are not in the package tree because of patent issues, but i highly doubt that. I have read the FAQ (before i installed OpenBSD even 
), but it did not answer the case for the 2 packages stated above. And there is no need to involve Jesus into this.
Member since:2007-05-05
Fans: 0
There were licensing issues with ngrep in the past which prevented a package from being distributed. These issues
have been resolved with the -current ports tree and a package does exist there.
There IS a package for dspam supporting PostgreSQL. There have been packages built from 3.7 all the way up to -current. hrmmm. I wonder what this dspam-3.6.8p3-pgsql.tgz package is for.
You didn't put much effort into that, that was pretty sad.
Member since:2005-08-18
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Member since:2006-08-18
Fans: 2
I want to try OpenBSD since it's the most secure BSD, but there are a couple problems:
1) Most of the packages are old/outdated.
2) There is no 3D acceleration from what I've read--not even open-source DRI/DRM?
3) The ports selection is very server centric. Very few desktop-oriented applications and games.
#3 is the biggest problem for me.
Member since:2006-07-26
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Member since:2005-07-06
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Member since:2006-09-19
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What, professionals don't like playing games?
I highly doubt that.
Maybe that's why BSD is just a niche os with next to none users.
Keep up the superior attitude and you'll be left behind in the dust not just by Microsoft (just ask Novel and Sun) but also by Linux which is getting more popular unlike BSD.
Member since:2006-04-21
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Member since:2007-01-18
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Member since:2007-05-05
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1) This is complete and utter bullshit.
2) Correct. Until you submit your patches or someone steps up who is actually interested in hacking in this area then it won't get done. Plain and simple.
3) This is ridiculous. There are plenty of applications used on so called "desktop" systems, audio software, video software, various desktop environments like KDE/GNOME/Xfce, e-mail apps, office suites, etc.
Member since:2006-07-15
Fans: 5
1) and 3)
http://ports.openbsd.nu/
Member since:2006-01-04
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Yes, instead of bleeding-edge packages you have old, stable programs, graphics not suited to a graphics workstation and no hip new games.
Weigh that against even one hostile intrusion to your system. (Which, in all fairness, could happen anyway.)
Chances are the glitz, high end capabilities and eye-candy/entertainment will follow and be safe enough to actually use. In the mean time if you have work that requires another OS, then that would be the one to use instead of the secure one. Just be sure to isolate it appropriately.
Member since:
2006-07-26
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