FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement • Hacker News Board

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#51

Post by rsync » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

craftkiller wrote: post #17

drewg123 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Or just run -current in production, like we do. See https://people.freebsd.org/~gallatin/talks/OpenFest2023.pdf Or https://papers.freebsd.org/2019/fosdem/looney-netflix_and_fr...

While I also use -current, I don't think this is good advice to the kinds of people who don't know if they should be running 14.4 or 15.0. There are caveats to running -current (for example, you need to disable the built-in debugging stuff on -current to get decent performance but the debugging stuff is already disabled on actual releases), so I think for new people it's best to recommend they use the latest release…

"I don't think this is good advice to the kinds of people who don't know if they should be running 14.4 or 15.0."

You don't need to wonder about this because FreeBSD has an official, documented position on this topic[1]:

"... include work in progress, experimental changes and transitional mechanisms that may or may not be present in the next official release ..."

"... whether or not FreeBSD-CURRENT sources bring disaster or greatly desired functionality can literally be a matter of which part of any given 24 hour period you grabbed them in!"

"(is not) In any way ``officially supported'' by us."

[1] https://docs-archive.freebsd.org/doc/4.4-RELEASE/usr/share/d...

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#52

Post by doublerabbit » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

dismalaf wrote: post #49

doublerabbit wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most FreeBSD installs still make use of stuff like Wayland and a lot of Linux parts. No? Wayland is available but Xorg is the default. FreeBSD doesn't install a display server on default so the choice is yours. There is no GUI installation of FreeBSD so I am not sure what "linux parts" you are referring to. The installation uses curses which is ancient and has existed since the dawn of C, Unix. Abd what FreeBSD is.…

Lol Red Hat had been X.org's largest contributor for years...

Sure, but that doesn't make it "Linux stuff".

Xorg is a fork of XFree86 which was originally The XFree86 Project, Inc. for Unix Systems, which targeted 4.4BSD.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#53

Post by dismalaf » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

doublerabbit wrote: post #52

dismalaf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol Red Hat had been X.org's largest contributor for years...

Sure, but that doesn't make it "Linux stuff". Xorg is a fork of XFree86 which was originally The XFree86 Project, Inc. for Unix Systems, which targeted 4.4BSD.

Key part of the comment I initially replied to:

> FreeBSD lives outside of Redhat's influence.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#54

Post by doublerabbit » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

dismalaf wrote: post #53

doublerabbit wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but that doesn't make it "Linux stuff". Xorg is a fork of XFree86 which was originally The XFree86 Project, Inc. for Unix Systems, which targeted 4.4BSD.

Key part of the comment I initially replied to: > FreeBSD lives outside of Redhat's influence.

And I am replying to your key part of the parent comment of: "Ish. Most FreeBSD installs still make use of stuff like Wayland and a lot of Linux parts."

One could say the parts you seem to count for being from Linux are Unix parts as they've originated from Unix, not Linux.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#55

Post by throw0101d » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

SuaveSteve wrote: post #41

sidkshatriya wrote: post #4

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Why FreeBSD ? - Well manicured OS, excellent docs. More performant than OpenBSD in every way and approaches Linux performance in some areas (e.g. Networking) - FreeBSD tends to have fewer features in almost all areas compared to Linux which makes it more approachable and more difficult to mess up. - Though it has fewer features, it still has…

>Linux monoculture How does Linux have a monoculture? You'd think it is anything but "mono" with all the distros.

> How does Linux have a monoculture? You'd think it is anything but "mono" with all the distros.

The kernel, systemd, most mainstream distros use glibc, a whole bunch of GNU utilities, GCC being the default on many distros. Versus a different kernel, different libc, different utilities (gawk vs One True Awk), clang default.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#56

Post by cperciva » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 6:20 PM UTC

sidkshatriya wrote: post #4

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Why FreeBSD ? - Well manicured OS, excellent docs. More performant than OpenBSD in every way and approaches Linux performance in some areas (e.g. Networking) - FreeBSD tends to have fewer features in almost all areas compared to Linux which makes it more approachable and more difficult to mess up. - Though it has fewer features, it still has…

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0

This is not the recommendation of the FreeBSD project. (I would know, because I'm the person in the project who makes that recommendation where appropriate.)

Once X.1-RELEASE ships, (X-1).* is considered "legacy" and we recommend that it is used primarily for maintaining existing systems and that new systems are deployed with the newer major version. But at when it comes to 14.4 vs 15.0 we're not there yet; .0 releases are always a bit bumpy and it's very much a judgement call at this point about how much risk people want to take.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#57

Post by cperciva » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

drewg123 wrote: post #6

sidkshatriya wrote: post #4

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Why FreeBSD ? - Well manicured OS, excellent docs. More performant than OpenBSD in every way and approaches Linux performance in some areas (e.g. Networking) - FreeBSD tends to have fewer features in almost all areas compared to Linux which makes it more approachable and more difficult to mess up. - Though it has fewer features, it still has…

If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Or just run -current in production, like we do. See https://people.freebsd.org/~gallatin/talks/OpenFest2023.pdf Or https://papers.freebsd.org/2019/fosdem/looney-netflix_and_fr...

Yeah but nobody else has as many a FreeBSD developers on staff to fix stuff when it breaks. Or, you know, to run monthly stabilization weeks and extensively QA before deploying to a herd of cattle.

There are so many factors in favour of Netflix running 16.0 which don't apply elsewhere.

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#58

Post by corv » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

seanw444 wrote: post #46

corv wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Systemd comes to mind, although it wasn’t as dominant initially

I really don't understand all the systemd hate. It got popular because it was good. I have nothing against the other options, but systemd is just fine. You always have the option of creating your own init scripts with the other systems, and there are plenty of spinoff distros that add those init systems if you so choose.

This wasn't a judgement on systemd but the fact stands that Linux has long abandoned POSIX compatibility, udev being another prominent example.

I'd say this is what ultimately drives monoculture, which is a shame because diversity from glibc (e.g. musl et al.) and other major components could make critical infrastructure more resilient overall

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#59

Post by vermaden » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

cperciva wrote: post #56

sidkshatriya wrote: post #4

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 Why FreeBSD ? - Well manicured OS, excellent docs. More performant than OpenBSD in every way and approaches Linux performance in some areas (e.g. Networking) - FreeBSD tends to have fewer features in almost all areas compared to Linux which makes it more approachable and more difficult to mess up. - Though it has fewer features, it still has…

14.4 is a maintenance release. If you're installing FreeBSD today, use 15.0 This is not the recommendation of the FreeBSD project. (I would know, because I'm the person in the project who makes that recommendation where appropriate.) Once X.1-RELEASE ships, (X-1).* is considered "legacy" and we recommend that it is used primarily for maintaining existing systems and that new systems are deployed with the newer major…

By the way - does 32bit packages 'problem' for WINE has been resolved on 15.x series?

On 14.x and older versions WINE brings `/usr/local/share/wine/pkg32.sh` to keep 32bit packages for WINE32 ... but 15.x does not build 32bit packages anymore ...

Re: FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement

#60

Post by slyfox125 » Tue, Mar 10, 2026, 9:35 PM UTC

For those who are only familiar with Linux (or Windows): don't relegate yourself to any one system. FreeBSD has its benefits and so does Linux (and Windows, though that shrinks by the day - and MacOS). Use the best tool for the job at hand and enjoy things for what they are. Personally, I find enjoyment and usefulness in all of them (BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows), and use them all regularly (daily to weekly).