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OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

marc.info

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Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#61

Post by sliverstorm »

d_theorist wrote: post #28
fennecfoxen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A number of logistical reasons prevents us from moving the machines to another location which might offer space/power for free, so let's not allow the conversation to go that way. and there's no way that overcoming those logistical reasons would be cheaper than $20,000? at all? okay, well then, I guess that limits your options doesn't it.

It certainly seems rather unlikely that moving the machines to another location would reduce the expenses to $0. I can well imagine that there would be a lot of difficulty in moving an large eclectic collection of old machines into a modern data center, and that such an undertaking might be extremely expensive.

Maybe not to zero, but what about from $0.14/kWh to $0.06/kWh?

(I don't actually know what they currently pay)

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#62

Post by dredmorbius »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #50

So let's deal with the elephant in the room: the OpenBSD project is run by complete and utter jerks. Not just Theo, but he has set the bar quite low when it comes to friendliness and tolerance of questions from younger/less experienced contributors. Linus' rants on the Linux kernel lists are almost cookie cutter copies of Theo's. There is "opinionated software" and then there is Theo being an intolerable, obnoxious,…

I've been called an insult to idiots or similar by Theo de Ratt. Once.

I use OpenSSH every fucking day.

I'll take the insults. And apologize to the idiots. And pitch in when I can.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#63

Post by hhw »

simias wrote: post #14

As a long time FreeBSD user I wish the BSDs would find a way to "unite" in a way, try to put redundant infrastructures in common. Right now I feel like linux is slowly eating all the market share, if it continues that way the BSDs will regress back to the lines of Hurd and Plan9. Competition is always a good thing, even in the OSS world.

I disagree that BSD market share is eroding. It may not be gaining as many desktop users, but it's still popular on the server side, especially on file servers due to support for ZFS, is used as the base for other operating systems like MacOS X, Juniper's JunOS, and even Playstation 4's OS. Netflix adopting FreeBSD also means a very large portion of bits being shuffled around the Internet are off FreeBSD servers.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#64

Post by mrweasel »

jdludlow wrote: post #23

> The OpenBSD project uses a lot of electricity for running the > development and build machines. A number of logistical reasons > prevents us from moving the machines to another location which might > offer space/power for free, so let's not allow the conversation to go > that way. I don't understand this comment. If the choice came down to moving versus shutting down entirely, why is moving an unacceptable answer?

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the older hardware at least require some degree of hands on administration. Rebuilding an testing a new kernel on a VAX with no remote administration features would slow things down. Having stuff easily available makes a lot of sense to me.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#65

Post by sliverstorm »

4ad wrote: post #3

Useful (non-slashdot) links: Initial ask for help: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=138730448307723&w=2 How much it costs: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=138972987203440&w=2 Why old hardware platforms matter: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=138973312304511&w=2 Why not kickstarter: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=138973837906139&w=2 And most importantly, the donation link: http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/…

I really love how we keep getting advice.

Anyone want to suggest we hold a bake sale?

It's funny to hear this sort of thing from someone trying to accrue $20k in donations. Yes, many people will give bad advice. No, you don't really get to complain about it when you are asking them for large sums of money.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#67

Post by hhw »

xradionut wrote: post #51
hhw wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Theo's comments on the mailing list: "On a regular basis, we find real and serious bugs which affect all platforms, but they are incidentally made visible on one of the platforms we run, following that they are fixed. It is a harsh reality which static and dynamic analysis tools have not yet resolved. " "Regarding shutting them down, there other social problems. Yes, we remove about 10 of the architectures. We'd…

Who still uses an 88K machine? I have the CPU board from a DG/UX machine, but the latest chips are from 93/94.

The developers who volunteer their time to work on it: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/arch/m88k/incl...

Keep in mind that OpenBSD is by the developers for the developers. That it's also useful for a lot of users is just a nice side effect, helpful for testing and funding.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#69

Post by ForHackernews »

Xdes wrote: post #19
cpprototypes wrote: post #18

A little bit off topic, but this reminds me again of how much the web needs an easy payment system (as easy as in-app purchases in mobile). EFF, wikipedia, I often see notices or news of things they're doing and think to myself that I should donate. But I'm usually in the middle of something and stopping everything to take out my wallet, get the CC, fill out a form, etc. is just too disruptive. So I try to remind mys…

As Bitcoin expands its adoption this will become less of an issue.

Maybe. Doing anything with bitcoin today is a giant pain in the ass. Which is easier?

a) Typing in a credit card number + billing address.

b)

- Signing up for an account at a Bitcoin exchange.

- Transferring money to them (by doing a?)

- Waiting for them to exchange it.

- Transferring it to the recipients' wallet (this one step is kinda-easy, I'll grant)

- Hoping the price of bitcoin holds stable-ish so that my bitcoins are still worth something when the recipient converts them back.

Re: OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on

#70

Post by kscottz »

I would love to see more FOSS projects on GitTip (https://www.gittip.com/). It would seem to me that regular small donations that can be budgeted would be more helpful than just scratching where and when it itches. Giving $1 a week versus $50 at once is so much more convenient. We as the FOSS community need to own up that writing and hosting software isn't free, and most of us as highly paid engineers are in a position to be charitable and help out. My resolution for this year is to give away 1% of my income to the FOSS community and related charities (EFF, Wikipedia, Ada Initiative, PSF, etc). I challenge everyone on HackerNews to do the same. Stop bitching and put your money where your mouth and let's go help make a better world.
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