What's New in OpenBSD 4.2?

blackbearnh writes "OpenBSD 4.2 was released today, and has a host of new features. O'Reilly's ONLamp site has a pretty thorough overview of the release. 'Even though security is still there, this release comes with some amazing performance improvements: basic benchmarks showed PF being twice as fast, a rewrite of the TLB shootdown code for i386 and amd64 cut the time to do a full package build by 20 percent (mostly because all the forks in configure scripts have become much cheaper), and the improved frequency scaling on MP systems can help save nearly 20 percent of battery power. And then the new features: FFS2, support for the Advanced Host Controller Interface, IP balancing in CARP, layer 7 manipulation with hoststated, Xenocara, and more!'"

Where to get it...

[KingSkippus]

Since the submitter didn't bother linking to their site (!!?), if you want to try out some of these amazing new features and improvements instead of just reading about them, you should head over to the OpenBSD 4.2 page [openbsd.org] and snag a copy!

Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino

[eldavojohn]

It should probably be noted (as one of the articles states) that this release is dedicated to a man who passed away a few days ago. From another article [kerneltrap.org] on KernelTrap:

"Jun-ichiro 'itojun' Itoh Hagino passed away on October 29, 2007 at the age of 37. "To those in the BSD communities he was simply Itojun, best known in his role as IPv6 KAME project core researcher. Itojun did the vast majority of the work to get IPv6 into the BSD network stacks. He was also instrumental in moving IPv6 forward in all aspects through his participation in IETF protocol design meetings. Itojun was helpful to everyone around him, and dedicated to his work. He believed and worked toward making technology available to everyone. He will be missed, and always remembered."

Truly unfortunate for the open source community, the networking community & all of Itojun's family. It's a shame to see someone so promising go at a young age.

Re:I need to try BSD

[ByOhTek]

One of the first things I do on FreeBSD after installing bash and portupgrade...

portupgrade -Nf sysutils/gnutools
echo "
alias ls='gls --color=always'
alias cp='gcp'
alias mv='gmv'
" >> ~/.bashrc

Something similar will probably work on OpenBSD

(oh, and for those who need their [modified] meems... OpenBSD is Undead, netcraft confirms it!)

4.2BSD

[m2943]

Ah, that brings back memories of 4.2BSD, the first BSD with real Internet support.

(OpenBSD 4.2 seems somewhat less exciting to me.)

Re:Huh?

[marcello_dl]

I'd ask "what's google" next.

Re:How dissapointing- they didn't include Xen

[e9th]

Theo has strong feelings [kerneltrap.org] about virtualization.

Re:I need to try BSD

[Stamen]

colorls is in ports for gnubies,

Can't you just turn on color with ls -G like in OS X? No need for gnu ls. The only reason I'd want gnu stuff is to be consistent with the Linux servers, so I could have 1 set of scripts. Personally, I don't install gnu tools in OS X, I use ls - G, and curl instead of wget, etc.

what is new? the answer is...

[lordholm]

There is a new song, as far as I am concerned, that is one of the more exciting features in OpenBSD 4.2. :)

Re:Never got the hang of patching it

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be a pain to devote one of each arch's build machines to -stable instead of -current. It is also generally considered a stock response that an administrator should be doing the patches, so that they understand what's happening in their machine. http://blog.bsdjournal.net/ [bsdjournal.net] is the site of a guy who maintains some stable builds, perhaps you could try and get him to work more closely with the OpenBSD project and get those to become official binaries updates, but it seems unlikely.

Re:Where to get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

It should also be mentioned that buying a CD set helps fund the project. The price is low and the value high. You can get it here [openbsd.org] (many local resellers too).
---
AC using OpenBSD 4.2/i386 and GNOME 2.18 (*hides*) ;-)

Re:Stable branch, still from source only?

[kv9]

One of the things that has put me of OpenBSD is the need to compile from source if you want to use the stable branch. I realise this is partially due to limited resources and priorities, but I would argue that this is probably one area where there is room for improvement.

no you do not. stop spreading FUD. there are binary sets for multiple archs [openbsd.org] in every release. this also goes for the ports. it is clearly stated in the FAQ that if you want stable you should use binary packages. the only time when you have to compile is when you make changes to the kernel (or are tracking -current system or ports).

Re:Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino

[Anonymous Coward]

He died almost instantly in a car accident. Stupid driver wasn't looking where he was going and plowed straight into him. It could happen to any one of us.

He was a damn fine fellow and it's a real shame to see him gone. RIP.

Re:Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino

[nacturation]

And if you want to learn about IPv6 [youtube.com] he has a good series of videos.