In 2019, I rediscovered OpenBSD.
As a green Unix user at the turn of the millennium, I tried everything that came my way. Back then, Theo, in the guise of OpenBSD, told me to go play with other toys. And here I am, almost 20 years later, in 2019, it resurfaced — the safest OS and all that. Well, I think I'll take a look — it’s probably still the same hard stuff.
Not so fast. What beauty this is. CWM, TMUX, and more. PLEDGE! If you don’t know about pledge yet, drop everything and read up. The beauty lies in simplicity, minimalism, and respect for human minds (meaning the belief that a person can do more than just hit the 'Next' button). Unix's friendliness is in full bloom: 'Unix is friendly ...' — you remember that). The beauty is in focus. In this case, the focus is on security. Specifically, I was struck by the uncompromising stance on 'optional security.' If any element of the security system can be disabled for convenience, it will definitely be done. SE Linux is great, but what's the first thing that admins with weak nerves do? 🙂 So, optional security is simply unacceptable by definition — I agree.
I concluded that accepting OpenBSD as a research project puts everything in its place. A system for engineers. We install, study, gain insights, use it, and grow professionally. Very interesting technologies are born in the project, which then find their way into other systems. The very approach to development, forgive my pomp, is honest and noble: We devise -> Implement -> Integrate into third-party software -> Expect that other vendors will adopt the technology (while quickly patching bugs, especially security issues, and not forgetting to send whiners to the FAQ on mailing lists).
Of course, due to resource constraints, there will never be broad support for a wide range of devices, modern laptops, and there will certainly be a drop in performance (and this, too, is a 'question'; there are many use cases — you can’t account for everything). By the way, I'm curious — is OpenBSD used in commercial systems? Does anyone know? According to various predominantly foreign forums — yes, it is used, but I haven't explored how extensively.
Overall, this was one of the first pleasant surprises a year ago; you can live quite well in OpenBSD — practically everything your heart desires has already been ported.
The purpose of this text was to spark interest. If someone after this engages, plays around, and truly cares, the world will become a little better.
Source: habr.com
