On Sat, Jun 07, 2003 at 10:46:40AM +1200, Dave Lilley wrote:
>
>
> Hi there folks,
>
> Anyone played or using OpenBSD ??
>
>
> What's your opinion of it ???
>
> interested in it.
I've tried a lot of different OS's, and different Linux distributions, and
I've found that OpenBSD is the only one that doesn't constantly piss me
off. It's got it's problems, but they're problems I know, and understand,
and can deal with.
So let's start with what sucks about OpenBSD.
The install doesn't work with a USB keyboard unless your bios will do
emulation. Which often seems to require the USB keyboard to be plugged
into a specific port.
The default kernel image doesn't use much memory for caching your disk -
5% of ram. This is easy to change, you can run:
config -e -o /nbsd /bsd
cachepct 25
mv /bsd /obsd; cp -f /nbsd /bsd
And that'll give you 25% percent instead, which is a lot nicer. I think
I use 60% on my desktop system which has 512 MB of ram, and never seems to
be able to actually use up all of it's free ram let alone swap.
There's some low limits on system resources by default - you can't suddenly
run 1000 xterm processes on a default install like you can on Linux 2.4.
XFree86 isn't configured by default - after a fresh install you can run
xf86config and setup your X. I don't find this a big deal. You can then
edit /etc/rc.conf and change the line that says xdm_flags=NO to
xdm_flags="" to start xdm on bootup.
root's shell defaults to /bin/csh, which is icky. You can login as root
and type chsh and change the line that says /bin/csh to /bin/ksh and then
you'll have a decent shell that isn't bloated, but still has tab completion,
support for vi key bindings, and I think emacs key bindings too, but I don't
use them.
There's no NZ mirror that's up-to-date that I know of. I've got the base
system i386 tarballs, and source tarballs and I can make them publically
accessible if anybody's keen. (but you'd still have to get packages).
There is a mirror that's about an extra 50 msec away in Australia, on
www.wiretapped.net/pub/OpenBSD, and there's also PlanetMirror (Australia
again) - which seems to go fine sometimes, and pretty slow other times.
That said, these issues don't really phase me, especially seeing as I just
did an OS/2 install - I'm still not sure how to make my keyboard mapping in
OS/2 stick, and OS/2's config.sys is really scary, and I had many many
other issues.
Now, onto what I like about OpenBSD.
Single floppy install. I've done this many times, on many different
computers, and it's easy, fast, convenient, and flexible.
There's no software raid in the default kernel. You have to change the
default kernel image to include raid support, and build a new kernel.
This isn't too hard. You don't have to know what all your hardware is
or anything, as you're not starting from nothing, you're starting from
the default kernel.
There's no PXEBOOT support currently. This is actually a bit annoying :)
You can just download the i386/ directory on a local ftp server, plug the
computer you're installing into ethernet, and specify your l/p and path
and get a fast install that doesn't require a cdrom drive, or floppy
changing, or even a monitor/keyboard if you know that the computer will
boot without. If there's no video card, output will default to the first
serial port, else you can just tweak the disk slightly. (google and you'll
find out how, it escapes me, but I remember it's simple)
The configuration is simple, /etc isn't scary, /etc/rc.conf is a joy to
work with for configuring many aspects of your system. SSH is installed by
default, apache just needs: httpd_flags="" instead of httpd_flags=NO set in
rc.conf, or httpd_flags="-u" if you don't want to chroot. (apache defaults
to chrooting, which means that if the web server is compromised, none of
rest of the system is visible, but this also means that if you want to
access anything out of the web server root then you have to copy it into the
chroot area)
The filesystem layout is quite different to any Linux distribution that I've
used, but I like it. Apache lives in /var/www, locally installed packages
live in /usr/local, the base system lives in /usr.
There's a convenient rescue disk kernel image called bsd.rd. You can type
in bsd.rd at the boot loader, and you have a nice rescue system, with tar
etc on it, that you can do installs, upgrades, or get a shell, and you're
always safe :)
USB support works out-of-the-box, and you can just plug in a USB mouse, or
a USB keyboard while X is running and you suddenly have two mice or two
keyboards that both work. I'm actually using a USB keyboard, and a USB
mouse an my desktop system at home using OpenBSD.
You can still run Linux programs under emulation. I use the Linux version
of Opera, as Opera 7 is nicer than Opera 6 which is the latest version
available for FreeBSD, which can also be emulated.
Manpages are well written, and very useful. Everything in general is
documented properly. New features don't get included without
documentation.
PF (packet filter) works really well, and is clear and concise in
functionality compared to ipchains/iptables. There's a simple /etc/pf.conf
file where you make your changes.
(U)DMA is enabled realiably. It seems Linux has terrible problems with not
enabling dma on hard-drives, which means that hdparm has to be used to
enable (U)DMA.
top is nicer, and it loads instantly :)
A daily insecurity mail is sent, telling you about possible permission
issues et cetera.
A welcome email is sent, telling you what to do straight after you install
OpenBSD.
Poweroffs have worked on all ATX boxes that I've tried, with Linux it seems
to not work on at least 50% of boxes I try it on. I'm not quite sure why,
but I recall there's some option in Linux's kernel to tweak it. (why can't
it just work?)
You don't have to define kernel images, like you do in Lilo. (I know GRUB
fixes this issue)
ifconfig lets you set media options, unlike Linux. I've got no idea why
under Linux mii-tool still has to be used.
Also I find the OpenBSD boot disk convenient for installing Windows. You
can boot off of it, and ftp the Window CD onto the box, and then you don't
need a cdrom drive. I don't really use cdrom drives. I don't have a cdrom
drive on my desktop system, or even a floppy drive. (I'm using a mini itx
formfactor box with no fans and a Seagate Baracuda V hard-disk set to
suspend when inactive - very quiet, I leave it on all the time)
Any questions?
Ben.
