OpenBSD Archive

OpenBSD 5.0 Released

  Submitted by fran OpenBSD 31 Comments
"OpenBSD 5.0 has been published, six months after the release of version 4.9. The OpenBSD project's newest release of the free BSD based UNIX-like operating system includes a number new and updated drivers, performance improvements and new features. OpenBSD 5.0 includes the GNOME 2.32.2, KDE 3.5.10 and Xfce 4.8.0 desktop environments. It also contains a number of new and updated packages including versions 3.5.19, 3.6.18 and 5.0 of the Firefox web browser, PHP 5.2.17 and 5.3.6, LibreOffice 3.4.1, and Chromium 12. The release includes September's release of OpenSSH 5.9." GNOME 2 you say? Huh. Interesting.
Read More

OpenBSD 4.9 Released

OpenBSD 9 Comments
OpenBSD 4.9 release is ready, now with enabled NTFS by default (read-only), SMP kernels can now boot on machines with up to 64 cores, maximum allocation size for i386 bumped to 2G, added support for AES-NI instructions found in recent Intel processors, further improvements in suspend and resume and much more.
Read More

More Details Emerge Regarding OpenBSD FBI Backdoors

  Submitted by Oliver OpenBSD 28 Comments
Yesterday, we reported on the allegations made by Gregory Perry. He claims that 10 years ago, several developers were paid by the FBI to implement hidden backdoors into OpenBSD's IPSEC stack. This has prompted a lot of speculation about the allegations' validity, and less than 24 hours later, it has descended into one person's word against that of others. Update: Jason Wright, too, denies all the allegations. "I will state clearly that I did not add backdoors to the OpenBSD operating system or the OpenBSD crypto framework (OCF). It is a baseless accusation the reason for which I cannot understand."
Read More

“FBI Added Secret Backdoors to OpenBSD IPSEC”

  Submitted by Oliver OpenBSD 126 Comments
Okay, this is potentially very big news that really needs all the exposure it can get. OpenBSD's Theo de Raadt has received an email in which it was revealed to him that ten years ago, the FBI paid several open source developers to implement hidden backdoors in OpenBSD's IPSEC stack. De Raadt decided to publish the email for all to see, so that the code in question can be reviewed. Insane stuff.
Read More

“The Insecurity of OpenBSD”

  Submitted by Anonymous OpenBSD 43 Comments
"OpenBSD is widely touted as being 'secure by default', something often mentioned by OpenBSD advocates as an example of the security focused approach the OpenBSD project takes. Secure by default refers to the fact that the base system has been audited and considered to be free of vulnerabilities, and that only the minimal services are running by default. This approach has worked well; indeed, leading to 'Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!'. This is a common sense approach, and a secure default configuration should be expected of all operating systems upon an initial install. An argument often made by proponents of OpenBSD is the extensive code auditing performed on the base system to make sure no vulnerabilities are present. The goal is to produce quality code as most vulnerabilities are caused by errors in the source code. This a noble approach, and it has worked well for the OpenBSD project, with the base system having considerably less vulnerabilities than many other operating systems. Used as an indicator to gauge the security of OpenBSD however, it is worthless."
Read More

OpenBSD 4.6 Released

  Submitted by ebasconp OpenBSD 64 Comments
As mentioned in the release announcement: "Many people have received their 4.6 CDs in the mail by now, and we really don't want them to be without the full package repository. We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.6. This is our 26th release on CD-ROM (and 27th via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install." I really want news like this on the front page, but sadly, the long list of improvements makes no sense to me - I don't know what's important and what isn't. If someone can provide a nice readable summary of the most important improvements, I'll include it to the item and place it on the front page. There we are.
Read More

PF Enabled by Default in OpenBSD-current

  Submitted by ZacharyM OpenBSD 4 Comments
"As seen here, PF is now enabled by default. The default pf.conf will now pass in all traffic, except for TCP port 6000 normally used by remote-X11. By having the X server still listen on port 6000 but let PF block incoming packets that aren't coming from localhost you can still use local X sessions that needs to talk to the TCP port or runs through a port forward from remote, but at the same time don't expose your machine on the network. Recent changes to PF, like having packet reassembly enabled on all packets by default, will now help clean incoming traffic."
Read More

What’s New in OpenBSD 4.4

  Submitted by Reyk OpenBSD 25 Comments
O'Reilly interviewed 27 OpenBSD developers to present the new release. They discussed buffer cache improvements, the new malloc(), the work to make the math library more C99 compliant, what is new in the SCSI area, crypto support for softraid, a lot of fundamental work happened in PF, a new tool to merge configuration files during upgrades, the status of OpenCVS, some cool features of OpenSSH 5.1, the initial support for USB webcams, the never-ending work on improving and extending the sensors framework, and more.
Read More

OpenBSD 4.3 Released

OpenBSD 35 Comments
Theo de Raadt has lifted the veil off OpenBSD 4.3. "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.3. This is our 23nd release on CD-ROM (and 24rd via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install." Boasting as always, but when it's justified, arrogance is a virtue.
Read More

Stallman: ‘OpenBSD Ports Suggests Non-Free Software’

  Submitted by lmvaz OpenBSD 264 Comments
Richard Stallman sent a message to OpenBSD-Misc, explaining why he doesn't recommend OpenBSD. "From what I have heard, OpenBSD does not contain non-free software (though I am not sure whether it contains any non-free firmware blobs). However, its ports system does suggest non-free programs, or at least so I was told when I looked for some BSD variant that I could recommend. I therefore exercise my freedom of speech by not including OpenBSD in the list of systems that I recommend to the public." His mail started a huge thread (that's just page 1) and since then he's under a blast of messages from Theo de Raadt and the OpenBSD users. De Raadt replied: "Richard, you are wrong. You said very clearly in your interview that the ports tree contains non-free software. It does not. It is just a scaffold of Makefiles containing URLs, and an occasional patch here or there. You are just plain wrong. And you are not enough of a man to admit that you are wrong. I may be unfriendly at times, but you are a power-misusing hypocritical liar who attacks projects that try harder than any others to only make free software available. Shame on you."
Read More