OpenBSD Archive

"OpenBSD is an ultra-secure, freely available, multi-platform BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. And is arguably the most secure operating system in the world. After using OpenBSD for over 9 years I decided to place online some useful information for first time users of OpenBSD. The information here covers the current release of OpenBSD."

The framework is intentionally designed to support only the basic functionality, as it will ultimately be used to support many RAID controllers. Theo explains, "the functionality supplied is also very basic, almost minimal. But this is done like this on purpose, since we believe that we could support this functionality on all RAID controllers in the same way, without special 'but that controller is so different' mindsets entering the picture. RAID management should (and can be) be no more complicated than ifconfig managing network interfaces."

"OpenBSD's Theo de Raadt has bumped the version identifier from 3.7-current to 3.8-beta in CVS HEAD. Now is an especially good time to test snapshots."

For those of you who are intrested in OpenBSD's OpenCVS, NedBSD has put an interview with Joris Vink online. Joris Vink is an OpenBSD developer who is working on OpenCVS.

De Raadt's team makes OpenBSD, an operating system, and OpenSSH, for secure communications. Here, he talks about why he does it, about industry use of open-source software, and about dedication to quality paying off.

Theo de Raadt is a pioneer of the open source software movement and a huge proponent of free software. But he is no fan of the open source Linux operating system. "It's terrible," De Raadt says. "Everyone is using it, and they don't realize how bad it is. And the Linux people will just stick with it and add to it rather than stepping back and saying, 'This is garbage and we should fix it.'"

NewsForge has a review of OpenBSD 3.7, covering some of the new features and what they do, a general overview of OpenBSD, and some suggestions for OpenBSD developers for some new features in the next release.

OpenBSD 3.7 is the first release to support newer wireless chipsets, especially for 802.11g, thanks to a big activism campaign lead by project leader Theo de Raadt. It's now possible to create a portable access point with a tiny PDA using the Zaurus port, too. As usual, there are a lot of other big and small changes, such as the import of Xorg, the jump towards gcc3, and a feature to update your installed packages automagically. Discover the details behind the scenes in this interview that Federico Biancuzzi had with several OpenBSD developers.

Users who want their OpenBSD machine to perform specific functions or need additional device drivers might want to customize their kernel. In other OS's, like some types of Linux, it is very popular to rebuild the kernel because the default is so bloated. For most users, the default OpenBSD kernel is sufficient; however, you can still apply kernel patches, which will require rebuilding and installing a fresh kernel.

This is a partial list of new features & systems for OpenBSD 3.7, scheduled to be released in May.

KernelTrap has spoken with OpenBSD creator Theo de Raadt and several other OpenBSD developers regarding their recent efforts to add comprehensive wireless hardware support to OpenBSD. The article takes an in depth look at several of the dozen new drivers found in the upcoming OpenBSD 3.7 release, exploring the stories behind their development.

"Now, without spending a lot of money you to can build an authenticated gateway solution to verify your WIFI users. First and foremost you need to get your hands on the coolest free BSD system for firewalls and security devices. In this example I will be using OpenBSD3.6 stock standard as a build and a base system." Read the rest here.

Most people do not use OpenBSD as a desktop OS, though there are some people who swear by it. This chapter provides an overview of OpenBSD, including its development, features, and the tools available in this operating system for your business.

The SGI port of OpenBSD has been moved to officially supported status bringing the number of officially supported platforms to 15.