OpenBSD

What is OpenBSD?

The OpenBSD project produces a FREE, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. Our efforts emphasize portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security and integrated cryptography. OpenBSD supports binary emulation of most programs from SVR4 (Solaris), FreeBSD, Linux, BSD/OS, SunOS and HP-UX.

OpenBSD
People sometimes ask why we support so many "odd" machines. The short answer is, "because we want to". If enough skilled people (sometimes, "enough" is only one really skilled person!) wish to maintain support for a platform, it will be supported. There are practical benefits to keeping OpenBSD multi-platform: when new platforms come out, the code tree is relatively free of portability-breaking bugs and design flaws. The OpenBSD platforms include 32 bit and 64 bit processors, little and big endian machines, and many different designs. And yes, supporting "unusual" platforms has helped produced a higher-quality code base for more "common" platforms.

Is OpenBSD really free?

OpenBSD is all free. The binaries are free. The source is free. All parts of OpenBSD have reasonable copyright terms permitting free redistribution. This includes the ability to REUSE most parts of the OpenBSD source tree, either for personal or commercial purposes. OpenBSD includes NO further restrictions other than those implied by the original BSD license. Software which is written under stricter licenses cannot be included in the regular distribution of OpenBSD. This is intended to safeguard the free use of OpenBSD. For example, OpenBSD can be freely used for personal use, for academic use, by government institutions, by non-profit making organizations and by commercial organizations. OpenBSD, or parts of it, can also be freely incorporated into commercial products.

People sometimes ask if it bothers us that our free work is put into commercial products. The answer is, we would prefer that our good code be widely used than that commercial software vendors reimplement and create badly coded incompatible alternative solutions to already solved problems. For example, it is likely that SSH is a widely used protocol due to this freedom, much more widely used than if restrictions had been placed on how people used the OpenSSH code.

This isn't to say we would object to financial or hardware support in thanks. In fact, it is stunning how little support of any kind comes from companies that depend upon OpenBSD for their products, but there is no requirement of compensation.

The maintainers of OpenBSD support the project largely from their own pockets. This includes the time spent programming for the project, equipment used to support the many ports, the network resources used to distribute OpenBSD to you, and the time spent answering questions and investigating users' bug reports. The OpenBSD developers are not independently wealthy and even small contributions of time, equipment, and resources make a big difference.

Why might I want to use OpenBSD?

New users frequently want to know whether OpenBSD is superior to some other free UNIX-like operating system. That question is largely unanswerable and is the subject of countless (and useless) religious debates. Do not, under any circumstances, ask such a question on an OpenBSD mailing list.

Below are some reasons why we think OpenBSD is a useful operating system. Whether OpenBSD is right for you is a question that only you can answer.

  • OpenBSD runs on many different hardware platforms.
  • OpenBSD is thought of by many security professionals as the most secure UNIX-like operating system, as the result of a never-ending comprehensive source code security audit.
  • OpenBSD is a full-featured UNIX-like operating system available in source form at no charge.
  • OpenBSD integrates cutting-edge security technology suitable for building firewalls and private network services in a distributed environment.
  • OpenBSD benefits from strong ongoing development in many areas, offering opportunities to work with emerging technologies with an international community of programmers and end-users.
  • OpenBSD attempts to minimize the need for customization and tweaking. For the vast majority of users, OpenBSD "Just Works" on their hardware for their application. Not only is tweaking and customizing rarely needed, it is actively discouraged.


web: openbsd.org
 
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