OpenBSD Archive

OpenBSD 3.8: Hackers of the Lost RAID

Submitted by Todays_User 2005-10-21 OpenBSD 11 Comments

It's release time again for OpenBSD! The upcoming 3.8 will include some wonderful features for network gurus (trunking, tracking wireless roaming users, interface groups, a new ipsec configuration tool, and failover of ipsec links), a great rework of malloc() that will provide further security protections by default, and the first version of bioctl--a universal RAID management interface.

OpenBSD’s Network Stack

Submitted by anonymous 2005-10-13 OpenBSD 38 Comments

SecurityFocus interviews three OpenBSD developers about their network stack protection against DoS ICMP attacks, a short comparison with Linux' stack, and some thoughts on OpenBGPD.

Proactive Wireless Networks with OpenBSD hostapd(8)

Andrew Youll 2005-10-08 OpenBSD 11 Comments

OpenBSD developer Reyk Floeter writes in article Proactive wireless networks with hostapd(8) about his latest tool and how it can be used in wireless warfare. Defend your wireless networks from rogue nodes or "discourage" neighbours from occupying "your" frequencies.

OpenBSD MacPPC G5 Support in Progress

Thom Holwerda 2005-10-06 OpenBSD 22 Comments

"Theo announced on -misc today that work is in progress to add G5 support to the macppc port. G5 machines will be running in 32-bit mode but there is the possibility of a macppc64 port to follow to take advantage of these 64-bit processors. All Apple models are being targetted (iMac, Power Mac, and Xserve) so if you have such a machine and wish to run ~~OpenBSD~~ ~~NetBSD~~ OpenBSD on it, your dreams are about to come true. As Theo stresses, this is very much a work in progress and not everything is supported or stable at this point in time."

OpenBSD 101

Submitted by Nix_User 2005-09-19 OpenBSD 26 Comments

"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."

OpenBSD: RAID Management in 3.8

Eugenia Loli 2005-09-17 OpenBSD 16 Comments

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 Calls for Important Testing

Submitted by Nate 2005-08-23 OpenBSD 15 Comments

Modifying memory functions is never easy on an operating system, as a problem with memory affects everything in the system. OpenBSD developers have put out a call to help testing a new memory management system for the upcoming 3.8 release, which is tentitively set to be released this October.

OpenBSD Moves to 3.8-beta

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-14 OpenBSD 23 Comments

"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."

Submitted by jasper 2005-08-04 OpenBSD 12 Comments

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.

OpenBSD Hackathon 2005

Thom Holwerda 2005-07-08 OpenBSD 3 Comments

At the 2005 OpenBSD hackathon, Fernando Gont proposed ways to fix a 20 year old flaw in the design of the ICMP protocol that could be used to make TCP attacks. Kerneltrap has the details.

Theo De Raadt On Industry And Free Software

Thom Holwerda 2005-07-06 OpenBSD 68 Comments

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.

Is Linux For Losers?

Eugenia Loli 2005-06-17 OpenBSD 201 Comments

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.'"

A good morning with Theo de Raadt

Submitted by OpenBSD MediaCoverage 2005-06-06 OpenBSD 7 Comments

Brief but wide-ranging interview with Theo in which our leader opines about the good things in 3.7: "The list of new developments is impressive, but in my view not nearly as impressive as the small little details that continue to be fixed during each development cycle."

OpenBSD 3.7 review

Submitted by Jem Matzan 2005-05-20 OpenBSD 13 Comments

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: The Wizard of OS

Submitted by BSD_User 2005-05-20 OpenBSD 31 Comments

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.

OpenBSD 3.7 has been released

Submitted by Marcin Wilk 2005-05-19 OpenBSD 33 Comments

Stable OpenBSD 3.7 has been released. On this site there is release announcement. Changes are noticed here. Many people are downloading files, so use nearest mirror if You can from this list .

Rebuilding the OpenBSD kernel

Submitted by None_Today 2005-04-24 OpenBSD 20 Comments

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.

OpenBSD 3.7 Page Goes Live

Submitted by many 2005-03-24 OpenBSD 35 Comments

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

OpenBSD 3.7 to Drop Adaptec AAC?

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-19 OpenBSD 42 Comments

With the recent push from OpenBSD to open firmwares to redistribution as well as obtaining new documentation for several wireless chipsets it would seem OpenBSD is pushing for other areas to open up as well.

OpenBSD’s “Out of the Box” Wireless Support

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-08 OpenBSD 18 Comments

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.