4 ms·

OpenBSD 4.8 Released

61 points by there 16y ago

jparise 16y ago
The top-level summary: This release adds better suspend and resume as well as new IKE and LDAP daemons, a bunch of network and SCSI stack improvements and much more! No new platforms, but there's a bunch of updated hardware support and network stack improvements.
bch 16y ago
Looking forward to checking out the Intel GEM/DRM support for the modern integrated gfx support. edit: GEM reference -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Execution_Manager http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Execution_Manager OpenBSD inteldrm(4) -- http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=inteldrm&sektion=4&format=html http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=inteldrm&se...
16s 16y ago
Theo still makes his own wheels with a hammer and a chisel. Rubber, store-bought tires are for pansies... only joking... I buy CDs and t-shirts and no matter what free Unix you use, do buy CDs because the CD sales also support OpenSSH and we all use that!
- jrockway 16y ago
  The rubber store-bought tires all have huge holes in them that the vendors would prefer you ignore. I am not a C fan, but I've read the OpenBSD code and it's solid. Instead of ignoring the details like integer truncation, string length, and error checking, they actually care about this stuff. The result is a reliable system instead of a mostly-reliable system.
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    Any time people ask for C code to read, I recommend the OpenBSD userland. Between that, the outstanding man pages, and the thoroughly integrated memory protection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD_security_features#Memory_protection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD_security_features#Memor...), OpenBSD is an excellent platform for C development.
there 16y ago
if you're interested in what other kinds of changes happen in a 6-month release window, here is a full changelog: http://www.openbsd.org/plus48.html http://www.openbsd.org/plus48.html
- sgt 16y ago
  They're quite a productive little team.
zdw 16y ago
OpenBSD is one of the BEST engineered Unix systems out there. It always amazes me at the quality and professionality they put into each release. It's also very simple - an installed base system will have around 20 processes, all of which are instantly recognizable, and nearly everything is configured and documented in a straightforward manner. Go build a firewall with OpenBSD. You will learn something new and be a better sysadmin afterwards.
- hello_moto 16y ago
  keyword: engineered. That's how Theo run the team. Like an engineering project. Less hacking, more engineering.
  - there 16y ago
    i'm confused, are you saying that hacking is a bad thing? while there is a certain "release engineering" process that goes on every 6 months to slow down development, stabilize the code, freeze it, tag it, test it, and ship it, all of the development work that is done between releases is just hacking. there isn't a roadmap of features and what gets worked on is whatever anyone feels like working on. openbsd developers gather at hackathons (http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html) every so often to work closely with others on specific features or projects, hash out ideas, test on weird hardware, and just get to socialize with other developers that live in different parts of the world. nobody is told what to do at those events and unless it's a specific mini-hackathon for ports or pf or something, everyone is kind of doing their own thing independently or in small teams.
    - fiveo 16y ago
      Not quite to a typical engineering process but I'm guessing it's much better than a typical open source project where people just keep hacking the code and do not care much the quality (security, performance, code quality, etc). I think the idea is that developers should have some sort of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). I know some people will moan when they heard that abbreviation, especially if people just want to "hack some code". It comes down to discipline and professionalism really. Interesting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7pkyDUX5uM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7pkyDUX5uM "Twelve years ago OpenBSD developers started engineering a release process that has resulted in quality software being delivered on a consistent 6 month schedule -- 25 times in a row, exactly on the date promised, and with no critical bugs. This on-time delivery process is very different from how corporations manage their product releases and much more in tune with how volunteer driven communities are supposed to function. Developer and testing laziness is mostly circumvented and leader frustration is kept to a minimum. The reasons, mechanics and social workings of our process have never been detailed outside the project, but now will be, hopefully providing some insight to others who face delays and quality issues with their own product lines."
drv 16y ago
The best part of every OpenBSD release: the release song. http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html
- superjared 16y ago
  I found the lyrics for 4.8 lacking, especially when compared with the lyrics from 4.3: http://openbsd.org/lyrics.html#43 http://openbsd.org/lyrics.html#43
bconway 16y ago
Does anyone know of a well-supported equivalent to FreeBSD's NanoBSD build system (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/nanobsd/index.html http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/nanobsd/index.html) on OpenBSD? I've been using a FreeBSD since '96 and love how easy it is to build, distribute, and maintain NanoBSD images in any number of places (embedded firewalls like Alix, VMs that support HVM, etc). Pf is a little outdated in FreeBSD now (patchable to 4.5), and having the original would be nice.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  I'm not familiar with that package, but there have been several openbsd-misc threads about running on nothing but a CF card, particularly on constrained platforms like Soekris boards. That's probably a good starting point. I haven't put OpenBSD on a real "embedded" system, but I've installed it on stripped-down, ancient attic hardware over null modems. I don't doubt that it would scale down even further. It makes an incredibly dependable firewall.
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  There's flashdist, but the consensus seems to be 'disk/flash is cheap and OpenBSD is small, just install a full system'. (Where 'full' means full userland; you can easily leave off the compiler, X, games and man pages.)
lhnn 16y ago
How much does Theo support OpenBSD? If he got hit by a bus, would the project go on, or as smoothly?
- fiveo 16y ago
  Project will go on. Smoothly? judge is out to decide. Theo is discipline. Others? who knows.
- peterbotond 16y ago
  openbsd foundation. read the mailing lists and you'll see many like minded, experienced people contribute to openbsd code.

61 points by there 16y ago

The top-level summary: This release adds better suspend and resume as well as new IKE and LDAP daemons, a bunch of network and SCSI stack improvements and much more! No new platforms, but there's a bunch of updated hardware support and network stack improvements.

bch 16y ago

Looking forward to checking out the Intel GEM/DRM support for the modern integrated gfx support. edit: GEM reference -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Execution_Manager http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Execution_Manager OpenBSD inteldrm(4) -- http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=inteldrm&sektion=4&format=html http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=inteldrm&se...

16s 16y ago

Theo still makes his own wheels with a hammer and a chisel. Rubber, store-bought tires are for pansies... only joking... I buy CDs and t-shirts and no matter what free Unix you use, do buy CDs because the CD sales also support OpenSSH and we all use that!

jrockway 16y ago
The rubber store-bought tires all have huge holes in them that the vendors would prefer you ignore. I am not a C fan, but I've read the OpenBSD code and it's solid. Instead of ignoring the details like integer truncation, string length, and error checking, they actually care about this stuff. The result is a reliable system instead of a mostly-reliable system.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  Any time people ask for C code to read, I recommend the OpenBSD userland. Between that, the outstanding man pages, and the thoroughly integrated memory protection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD_security_features#Memory_protection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD_security_features#Memor...), OpenBSD is an excellent platform for C development.

there 16y ago

if you're interested in what other kinds of changes happen in a 6-month release window, here is a full changelog: http://www.openbsd.org/plus48.html http://www.openbsd.org/plus48.html

sgt 16y ago
They're quite a productive little team.

zdw 16y ago

OpenBSD is one of the BEST engineered Unix systems out there. It always amazes me at the quality and professionality they put into each release. It's also very simple - an installed base system will have around 20 processes, all of which are instantly recognizable, and nearly everything is configured and documented in a straightforward manner. Go build a firewall with OpenBSD. You will learn something new and be a better sysadmin afterwards.

hello_moto 16y ago
keyword: engineered. That's how Theo run the team. Like an engineering project. Less hacking, more engineering.
- there 16y ago
  i'm confused, are you saying that hacking is a bad thing? while there is a certain "release engineering" process that goes on every 6 months to slow down development, stabilize the code, freeze it, tag it, test it, and ship it, all of the development work that is done between releases is just hacking. there isn't a roadmap of features and what gets worked on is whatever anyone feels like working on. openbsd developers gather at hackathons (http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html http://www.openbsd.org/hackathons.html) every so often to work closely with others on specific features or projects, hash out ideas, test on weird hardware, and just get to socialize with other developers that live in different parts of the world. nobody is told what to do at those events and unless it's a specific mini-hackathon for ports or pf or something, everyone is kind of doing their own thing independently or in small teams.
  - fiveo 16y ago
    Not quite to a typical engineering process but I'm guessing it's much better than a typical open source project where people just keep hacking the code and do not care much the quality (security, performance, code quality, etc). I think the idea is that developers should have some sort of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). I know some people will moan when they heard that abbreviation, especially if people just want to "hack some code". It comes down to discipline and professionalism really. Interesting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7pkyDUX5uM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7pkyDUX5uM "Twelve years ago OpenBSD developers started engineering a release process that has resulted in quality software being delivered on a consistent 6 month schedule -- 25 times in a row, exactly on the date promised, and with no critical bugs. This on-time delivery process is very different from how corporations manage their product releases and much more in tune with how volunteer driven communities are supposed to function. Developer and testing laziness is mostly circumvented and leader frustration is kept to a minimum. The reasons, mechanics and social workings of our process have never been detailed outside the project, but now will be, hopefully providing some insight to others who face delays and quality issues with their own product lines."

drv 16y ago

The best part of every OpenBSD release: the release song. http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html

superjared 16y ago
I found the lyrics for 4.8 lacking, especially when compared with the lyrics from 4.3: http://openbsd.org/lyrics.html#43 http://openbsd.org/lyrics.html#43

bconway 16y ago

Does anyone know of a well-supported equivalent to FreeBSD's NanoBSD build system (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/nanobsd/index.html http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/nanobsd/index.html) on OpenBSD? I've been using a FreeBSD since '96 and love how easy it is to build, distribute, and maintain NanoBSD images in any number of places (embedded firewalls like Alix, VMs that support HVM, etc). Pf is a little outdated in FreeBSD now (patchable to 4.5), and having the original would be nice.

silentbicycle 16y ago
I'm not familiar with that package, but there have been several openbsd-misc threads about running on nothing but a CF card, particularly on constrained platforms like Soekris boards. That's probably a good starting point. I haven't put OpenBSD on a real "embedded" system, but I've installed it on stripped-down, ancient attic hardware over null modems. I don't doubt that it would scale down even further. It makes an incredibly dependable firewall.
JoachimSchipper 16y ago
There's flashdist, but the consensus seems to be 'disk/flash is cheap and OpenBSD is small, just install a full system'. (Where 'full' means full userland; you can easily leave off the compiler, X, games and man pages.)

lhnn 16y ago

How much does Theo support OpenBSD? If he got hit by a bus, would the project go on, or as smoothly?

fiveo 16y ago
Project will go on. Smoothly? judge is out to decide. Theo is discipline. Others? who knows.
peterbotond 16y ago
openbsd foundation. read the mailing lists and you'll see many like minded, experienced people contribute to openbsd code.