Unofficial OpenBSD FAQ

• Author: Solène
• Date: 16 March 2018
• Tags: openbsd70 openbsd

NILFrequently asked questions (with answers) on #openbsd IRC channel

Please read the official OpenBSD FAQ

I am writing this to answer questions asked too many times.

If some answers get good enough, maybe we could try to merge it in the OpenBSD

FAQ if the topic isn't covered.

If the topic is covered, then a link to the official FAQ should be used.

If you want to participate, you can fetch the page using gopher protocol and

send me a diff:

$ printf '/~solene/article-openbsd-faq.txt\r\n' | nc dataswamp.org 70 > faq.md

OpenBSD features / not features

Here is a list for newcomers to tell what is and what is not OpenBSD

See OpenBSD Innovations

• Packet Filter : super awesome firewall

• Sane defaults : you install, it works, no tweak

• Stability : upgrades go smooth and are easy

• pledge and unveil : security features to reduce privileges of software, lots of ports are patched

• W^X security

• Microphone muted by default, unlockable by root only

• Video devices owned by root by default, not usable by users until permission change

• Has only FFS file system which is slow and has no "feature"

• No wine for windows compatibility

• No linux compatibility

• No bluetooth support

• No usb3 full speed performance

• No VM guest additions

• Only in-house VMM for being a VM host, only supports OpenBSD and some Linux

• Poor fuse support (it crashes quite often)

• No nvidia support (nvidia's fault)

• No container / docker / jails

Does OpenBSD has a Code Of Conduct?

No and there is no known plan of having one.

This is a topic upsetting OpenBSD people, just don't ask about it and send

patches.

What is the OpenBSD release process?

OpenBSD FAQ official information

The last two releases are called "-release" and are officially supported

(patches for security issues are provided).

-stable version is the latest release with the base system patches applied,

the -stable ports tree has some patches backported from -current, mainly to fix

security issues. Official packages for -stable are built and are picked up

automatically by pkg_add(1).

What is -current?

It's the development version with latest packages and latest code.

You shouldn't use it only to get latest package versions.

How do I install -current ?

OpenBSD FAQ about current

• download the latest snapshot install .iso or .fs file from your

favorite mirror under /snapshots/ directory

• boot from it

How do I upgrade to -current

OpenBSD FAQ about current

You can use the script sysupgrade -s, note that the flag is only useful if

you are not running -current right now but harmless otherwise.