OpenBSD

OpenBSD is a secure, free computer operating system. Many different types of computers can be used with OpenBSD, including Intel PCs and Apple Computer's PowerPCs.

OpenBSD

OpenBSD 6.1 default desktop with various utilities: top, xterm, xclock, xcalc, glxgears
Developer	Theo de Raadt and other people.
Written in	C, assembly, Perl, Unix shell
OS family	Unix-like
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Initial release	July 1996; 29 years ago (1996-07)
Latest release	7.5 / April 5, 2024; 16 months ago (2024-04-05)
Repository	cvsweb.openbsd.org
Package manager	OpenBSD package tools
Platforms	Alpha, x86-64, ARMv7, ARMv8 (64-bit), PA-RISC, IA-32, LANDISK, Omron LUNA-88K, Loongson, MIPS64, PowerPC, 64-bit RISC-V, SPARC64
Kernel type	Monolithic
Userland	BSD
Default user interface	Modified pdksh, X11 (FVWM)
License	BSD, ISC, other permissive licenses
Official website	www.openbsd.org

Like the other open source BSDs, the whole operating system is developed by the same group of people with OpenBSD. Programmes from other sources are available separately.

OpenBSD is often the first to add new security tools to make it harder to break. Developers have also carefully read through the programming code to check for mistakes more than once. The project is led by Theo de Raadt from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are few restrictions on people that use the source code, the BSD licence.

OpenBSD releases new versions every six months. Each version is supported for one year after release. OpenBSD's latest version has been released on 5th April 2024.^[1]

OpenBSD's first mascot was a BSD daemon with a halo, it was replaced with Puffy, a pufferfish, on June 15th, 2000, with the release of OpenBSD 2.7.

The operating system's developers add in many new technologies to make the system more secure and harder to break, technologies like W^X, Stack Protection, malloc reconfigurations and ssh to replace telnet and rlogin.

Because of its security features, OpenBSD is often used as a firewall and for other security-related jobs. It is also usable on a desktop computer.

Related pages

• NetBSD
• FreeBSD
• DragonFly BSD
• POSSE project
• KAME project

Other websites

• The OpenBSD homepage
• OpenBSD journal
• O'Reilly Network: An Interview with OpenBSD's Marc Espie Archived 2018-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
• One floppy OpenBSD MP3 Player and router/NAT/Firewall Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
• mdoc.su — short manual page URLs, a URL shortener written in nginx
• OpenBSD ports — full-text search to find applications ported to OpenBSD and available to install as packages
• BXR.SU — OpenBSD source code search (can be useful to see if your new computer parts are supported)