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blablabla123 | 3 months ago

Somewhat related OpenBSD is the fundament of my self-hosted homelab since it runs DNS, DHCP, a firewall router and a small local web server. Configuration is a dream compared to Linux and probably even compared to FreeBSD. You just need to go through the FAQ and copy&paste the relevant examples and modify them as needed. I don't know why it's so complicated on Linux where you need to appease a handful of daemons and find your way through a labyrinth of config files. I run a separate Linux based KVM host though.

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noosphr|3 months ago

OpenBSD is a very well kept secret that very few people are aware of. As close to nirvana as I can manage.

The fact I miss pretty much all the drama around the latest corporate take over attempts on Linux is just icing on the cake. The toxic slug strategy is an amazing one that more open source projects should use.

bluGill|3 months ago

Openbsd split from netbsd back in the day as the original toxic slug, so it is amusing to call it a releif today

201984|3 months ago

What do you mean by "toxic slug strategy"?

metalforever|3 months ago

There are a few nice to haves that would really help me out with making an open bsd transition. I thought of writing them myself because I am getting very fed up with Linux for the above reasons.

- IDE support is an issue still

- Filesystem challenging when using a laptop that runs out of battery

- MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls

- This one is just me being picky but a GUI to help me gain a better understanding of the security settings or alternatively more up to date books.

- I am not exactly sure on how to correctly use virtualization and I need it to support docker workloads at work

mvdwoord|3 months ago

Shoutout to OpenBSD.amsterdam for providing a wonderful hosted OpenBSD VPS. It is indeed pretty close to nirvana.

sharts|3 months ago

It’s also behind the times

jimmaswell|3 months ago

My impression is that the BSD's are laser-focused on providing efficient environments for networking backbone software to exist in, so special attention is paid to making it easy to orchestrate everything with rc.conf and keeping anything not required for these goals out of the default installation; while Linux (and its distributions) being far more general-purpose naturally will take more configuration.

colechristensen|3 months ago

Linux packaging tools are bad and the people who make Linux packages generally don't do a very good job at it limited by tools and motivation.

So much linux software doesn't come with sane defaults out of the box, doesn't have an easy path to common desired configurations, and doesn't have reasonable documentation. PARTICULARLY for "open" software that has a paid hosted option.

I say this after decades of a career where a very large proportion of the frustration and "stupid work" I've had to do involved getting a piece of software to do something obvious.

Working with the BSDs is just delightful in how wanting to do something turns into something working with ease.

MisterTea|3 months ago

OpenBSD used to run my network but Plan 9, specifically 9front is even easier. Everything is configured using NDB which is a flat text file containing entries for each system on the network. On my CPU server I run DHCP, DNS and TFTPd, which are three lines in /cfg/$sysname/cpurc. That's it. No init system and no /etc. Just start the programs which all look at the same central database for config info. When I setup PXE booting it took literally 5 minutes of adding the tftpd line, adding an extra bootf= tuple in the machines ndb entry, a plan9.ini in /cfg/pxe and I had a machine pxe booting 9front over the network when turned on.

lelanthran|3 months ago

> I don't know why it's so complicated on Linux where you need to appease a handful of daemons and find your way through a labyrinth of config files.

Not too mention that some newer servers you might want to run are containerised and have few, if any, instructions for how to set them up without containers.

implements|3 months ago

Speaking of Linux, OpenBSD’s hypervisor (vmm) supports it so I managed to get docker and containers running on my server via Alpine Linux. Opens the door on all the latest ‘modern server stuff’ running happily on an OBSD box.

metadat|3 months ago

Have you dealt with hardware failure or instability yet? It can be pretty annoying to pin down and isolate, unless you keep an order of magnitude of hoarded hardware around.

Time and attention are always in short supply.