For OpenBSD. Litt entusiasme

I re-discovered OpenBSD in 2019.

As a budding Unix enthusiast at the turn of the millennium, I tried everything that came my way. Back then, Theo, representing OpenBSD, told me to go play with other toys. And here I am, nearly 20 years later, in 2019, it surfaced again — the safest OS and all that. Well, I thought, I'll take a look — surely it’s the same tough nut.

But not so fast. What beauty this is. CWM, TMUX, and others. PLEDGE! If you don't know about pledge yet — drop everything and read about it. The beauty lies in simplicity, minimalism, and respect for human intelligence (meaning the belief that people can do more than just hit the 'Next' button). The friendliness of Unix at its best: “Unix is friendly ...” — you remember, right?). The focus is beautiful. In this case, the focus is on security. Particularly striking is the uncompromising stance on 'optional security.' If a security element can be disabled for convenience, it will certainly be done. SE Linux is a great thing, but what do admins with weak nerves first do? 🙂 So, optional security is unacceptable, simply by definition — I agree.

I've concluded that embracing OpenBSD as a research project places everything in its rightful place. A system for engineers. We install, study, gain insights, utilize, and grow professionally. Very interesting technologies are born in this project, which later find a home in other systems. The development approach, forgive my pomp, is honest and noble: We come up with ideas → Implement them → Integrate into third-party software → Hope that other vendors will adopt the technology (meanwhile, we quickly patch bugs, especially security ones, and don’t forget to send whining complainants from mailing lists to the FAQ).

Naturally, due to resource constraints, there will never be support for a wide range of devices; modern laptops will naturally experience a drop in performance (though this is a 'question' since there are many use scenarios — you can't account for everything). By the way, I'm curious — is OpenBSD used in commercial systems? Anyone know? According to various, mostly foreign forums — yes, it is used, but to what extent — I haven’t figured out.

Actually, this was one of the first pleasant surprises a year ago; you can quite well live fully on OpenBSD — practically everything your heart desires has already been ported.

Målet med denne teksten var å vekke interesse. Hvis noen etter dette setter seg inn i det, blir verden litt bedre.

Kilde: habr.com