Does working on the OpenBSD team require using OpenBSD on your daily desktop?
I Stopped Using OpenBSD
31–40 of 81 posts
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#32Journaling filesystems have been around for decades now; I don't think I've had a data loss incident since I stopped using Windows 98? I know it's volunteer driven but it seems like working on data integrity might be more of a benefit for security than some of the gimmicks like TRAPSLED.
OpenBSD had Soft Updates, which isn't really journaling but sort of similar. It was suppose to help with with file system integrity, in the case of crashes. OpenBSD removed it last year because it got in the way of VFS updates, and was hard for the team to maintain[1]. I love OpenBSD, but it really does need a modern filesystem. The current team might be to small or just not have the right people to do a new filesyst…
BSDs bet on permissive license hoping companies would drop code on them. Turned out companies were either using linux or dumping abandoned code as GPL to strategically keep out of competitors.
BSD licenses were a thing before GPL lost the final battle, when linus accepted the tainted-kernel compromise. Now it's a relic of a bygone time, which show allegiance to a side on a war that no longer matters.
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#33I keep a special laptop for all financial stuff. It is not that expensive and the inconvenience is limited. And on it I have CubesOS, but I guess OpenBSD would also be a good choice.
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#34cool keep us updated
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#35Journaling filesystems have been around for decades now; I don't think I've had a data loss incident since I stopped using Windows 98? I know it's volunteer driven but it seems like working on data integrity might be more of a benefit for security than some of the gimmicks like TRAPSLED.
Most setups nowadays do full disk encryption outside of the FS, so the journal doesn't help much. If you have SSD->LUKS->GPT->LVM->Ext4, then a bug on any of the (newer, buggier) components before your journaled FS means you lost data.
The journal does what it's supposed to, doesn't it? I.e: keep the file system from breaking on panics, or power loss. Sure it doesn't protect you against a corruption bug in LVM et al., but that doesn't make it useless.
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#36Journaling filesystems have been around for decades now; I don't think I've had a data loss incident since I stopped using Windows 98? I know it's volunteer driven but it seems like working on data integrity might be more of a benefit for security than some of the gimmicks like TRAPSLED.
Most setups nowadays do full disk encryption outside of the FS, so the journal doesn't help much. If you have SSD->LUKS->GPT->LVM->Ext4, then a bug on any of the (newer, buggier) components before your journaled FS means you lost data.
Any examples of that happening in the wild?
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#37I expect to see lots of people jumping in to defend OpenBSD right about now...
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#38Something like 99% of the use cases I've seen for OpenBSD are servers that have no keyboard, mouse, video, audio or other plugged into them. It's completely unsurprising that bluetooth and gamepad support isn't a priority.
> It's completely unsurprising that bluetooth and gamepad support isn't a priority.
The Bluetooth stack on linux is literal code trhown away from qalcomm (or was it broadcom?) with dbus on top. But since they dumped it as GPL it won't reach BSDs.
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#39Makes sense. I've always assumed that OpenBSD has a very narrow use case anyway. I love it for a network firewall because the configuration files are sane and easy to understand (stares at systemd networkd). I set it and forget it.
it is easier to setup a openbsd vm and have it handle all the network routing and wireguard stuff, than it is to simply disable the unrequested zeroconf stuff included in systemd-networkd/resolvd.
A while I'm a fan of OpenBSD where it makes sense, there's also more than one Linux distribution that does not have systemd and the related madness.
Re: I Stopped Using OpenBSD
#40I like Linux a lot but personally I am starting to get frustrated with rootless containers. It is frustrating one has to have higher privileges running the container to make it have its own IP address inside the container. It's frustrating you cannot have the container read and write on the filesystem as the UID running the container unless the process inside is root. I might have a better experience with VMs but eve…
because containers are not the solution you want. That is just Docker Enterprise marketing at this point.
Future of desktop security is on namespaces and bind, etc. Use aparmour, firejail, systemd unit file hardening. You will suffer less.
Containers and flatpacks are much more convenient, but only because you are not getting what you think you are getting. so.