15 ms·

Honest question, how do these companies use OpenBSD? I can totally understand the security benefits of OpenBSD, but it's also my understanding that it's very "u

by vruiz 11y ago

Honest question, how do these companies use OpenBSD? I can totally understand the security benefits of OpenBSD, but it's also my understanding that it's very "unstable", in the sense that they constantly introduce breaking changes. So I don't understand which company would put their "extra-secure" data in such system.

DominikD 11y ago
This is not the case. Breaking (in OpenBSD terms) doesn't mean release is unusable. It is/would be if you were to use apps from previous base/ports. But you don't and you shouldn't - what you get with each release is complete, working and sound. If you have custom code, then yes, you may need to adapt. But there's enough time to do that with each release. There's a stabilization period that's "long enough" and you always know when new release is coming out.
- vruiz 11y ago
  I see, thanks for the clarification.
LMAlVvQjSGj 11y ago
People using OpenBSD expect the changes you speak of. It's a price to pay for superior security.
golergka 11y ago
In my experience, when some backward compatibility is broken for security reasons, then you should stop using broken feature (or using feature in a way that is broken) even if you don't upgrade to the newer version of the product.
Sanddancer 11y ago
There's a lot of software that the OpenBSD Foundation develops, like OpenSSH, that gets used by near everyone. So even if a company doesn't use OpenBSD, they almost certainly use some software that was developed for it.
jms703 11y ago
OpenSSH
protomyth 11y ago
I follow the upgrade instruction every 6 months. Its really not that hard. If they throw a part of the base system out that I was using, then I install the port or convert to the "new way". So far, all has been good. Frankly, my FreeBSD box has been a bigger pain for upgrades with the "solver cannot solve" for pkg on upgrades, and now with the 10.2 upgrade "pw useradd" is taking over 1 minute per run. Since I'm doing student enrollment right now, its getting to be a little much. Such is the price to use ZFS for home and group directories.

by vruiz 11y ago

DominikD 11y ago

This is not the case. Breaking (in OpenBSD terms) doesn't mean release is unusable. It is/would be if you were to use apps from previous base/ports. But you don't and you shouldn't - what you get with each release is complete, working and sound. If you have custom code, then yes, you may need to adapt. But there's enough time to do that with each release. There's a stabilization period that's "long enough" and you always know when new release is coming out.

vruiz 11y ago
I see, thanks for the clarification.

LMAlVvQjSGj 11y ago

People using OpenBSD expect the changes you speak of. It's a price to pay for superior security.

golergka 11y ago

In my experience, when some backward compatibility is broken for security reasons, then you should stop using broken feature (or using feature in a way that is broken) even if you don't upgrade to the newer version of the product.

Sanddancer 11y ago

There's a lot of software that the OpenBSD Foundation develops, like OpenSSH, that gets used by near everyone. So even if a company doesn't use OpenBSD, they almost certainly use some software that was developed for it.

jms703 11y ago

OpenSSH

protomyth 11y ago

I follow the upgrade instruction every 6 months. Its really not that hard. If they throw a part of the base system out that I was using, then I install the port or convert to the "new way". So far, all has been good. Frankly, my FreeBSD box has been a bigger pain for upgrades with the "solver cannot solve" for pkg on upgrades, and now with the 10.2 upgrade "pw useradd" is taking over 1 minute per run. Since I'm doing student enrollment right now, its getting to be a little much. Such is the price to use ZFS for home and group directories.