Can you (easily) update a BSD system between releases? Or am I barking up the wrong (ports) tree?

Note: I originally wrote this post on 2/15/08. Today is 4/24/08. Since that time, I’ve looked into updating in the BSDs a bit further. In FreeBSD, it’s certainly possible to update both ports and packages.

In OpenBSD, the Errata for a give release shows you what needs to be fixed in the base system. The updates are easily available, but they do need to be compiled from source. What the OpenBSD team really wants you to do, it seems, is run the -current release, on which all ports can be updated from source. Sounds like a lot of compiling. Still, I might try it at some point.

Anyway, here is the “original” 2/15/08 entry:

While it’s pretty easy to install software from precompiled packages or from ports in OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD, I’ve hit a bit of a wall when it comes to keeping any of these systems up to date with periodic security and bug patches.

I don’t know if such updates are either not as necessary in the BSDs, even though my Linux boxes have a dozen or so of them every week, or that it’s just to hard to do for the average BSD user.

I see plenty of Web help on how to upgrade from one version of a BSD to another, but I don’t see anything that covers searching for periodically updated packages and updating an installation on, lets say, a weekly basis as security and bug problems arise and are presumably updated in the repositories of packages and ports.

O, BSD users, correct me if I’m wrong — and I do hope that I am wrong. But with apt/Aptitude/Synaptic in Debian-based Linux distributions, rpm/Yum in Red Hat- and Suse-style systems, and upgradepkg (and slapt-get/Gslapt) in Slackware (with security announcements going to the mailing list and the http://www.slackware.com/security page) … need I go on?

The point is that almost all Linux installations are easily upgraded with precompiled binary packages. Gentoo … well, I won’t go there because I know it has its own BSD-like ports system, but I’ve never used it and don’t know how it works.

Again, the point is that all of these Linux distributions have me conditioned to expect — and to install — updates on a regular basis.

But what do I do with BSD? In OpenBSD, for instance, I’ve never even downloaded the ports tree. Everything I’ve installed has been a precompiled binary package for the i386 architecture. It’s very slick, works perfectly … but am I exposing myself to undue risk by running Firefox 2.0.0.6 instead of the newer 2.0.0.12? Is all that extra OpenBSD security for nought if I’m running applications rife with security holes?

I’m being completely serious. Is there something I’m missing here? Since OpenBSD, at least, updates the whole system every six months, am I OK to keep the same packages running until the next release? What does this say about BSD vs. Linux when it comes to security and bugs?

But wait. I did run DesktopBSD for awhile, and I remember that system having a GUI package manager that not only fetched new packages but upgraded those already installed.

So that’s what Matt Olander was talking about when he said that PC-BSD and DesktopBSD were working together to share technology when it came to package management.

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t need to do my updates in a GUI app. I’m perfectly OK with using the console. Just being able to do that updating is enough. That is, unless someone out there can convince me that Linux has conditioned me to think I need something that I really don’t.

Those on all sides of this issue, please enlighten me — and quickly.

DesktopBSD’s brief, shining moment

I’ve been shuttling CDs in and out of my Gateway Solo 1450 laptop, just seeing what works and how well.

I’ve also been fiddling around with the BIOS settings, trying to get the CPU fan under control in both Linux and the various BSDs. A select few Linux kernels do this automatically … most don’t. I can control the fan with a cron job, but I’ve never, ever been able to do this with any version of BSD.

Until today. For some reason, I ran DesktopBSD 1.6 as a live CD, and the fan fell silent, turning on at various intervals, then off.

Like it’s supposed to do.

I rebooted.

It worked again.

A couple of boots later, it stopped working. I changed nothing between boots. It could’ve had something to do with going from Debian Lenny to DesktopBSD …

So while ACPI fan control is possible with FreeBSD — upon which DesktopBSD is based — I’ve got nothing in the bag. And it may never work again.

I tried PC-BSD 1.4 and FreeBSD 6.3 (just booting, not installing) … and the fan roared as always. I thought I could control it from a console, but that didn’t work.

But for two brief, shining moments, I had a FreeBSD-based system running with CPU fan management working perfectly.

If only it would happen again.

On a BSD roll — DesktopBSD boots and runs where it has never boot and run before

After whining over a dozen or so entries about how my VIA C3 Samuel-based test box would boot and install OpenBSD but not NetBSD, FreeBSD, DesktopBSD or PC-BSD, I’ve had a great time working in OpenBSD, and I was surprised to learn that the NetBSD 4-based live CD boots into a KDE desktop, looks great and runs pretty well, too.

I recently burned the latest DesktopBSD CD, which in its latest version boots as a live CD and will install the system. On my Gateway Solo 1450 laptop, besides the power management not working, there’s an unattractive blob that follows the cursor everywhere it goes (it’s a cute little program-dependent icon otherwise). But on a fanless desktop (there is a CPU fan, but it doesn’t run and hasn’t killed the CPU yet)

But my desktop test box has never been able to boot a FreeBSD-based CD until today, when I figured I’d give DesktopBSD 1.6 a try. It booted, configured the monitor for 1280 x 1024 (I prefer 1024 x 768 and will try it that way later) and is now up and running. If I had more time, I’d do a full install on one of my three drives that I rotate in and out of use (they sit atop a CD-RW drive, all outside the main box and connected with extra-long power and IDE cables).

The DesktopBSD KDE environment doesn’t look as nice as the one in the NetBSD live CD, and I’m not a big fan of KDE mostly because my old hardware can use all the help and speed it can get, but running both of these live CDs gives me hope that I can do some work with all NetBSD and FreeBSD in addition to OpenBSD to see what fits my hardware and goals for a desktop system.

The NetBSD live CD — why haven’t I heard of this before?

So I think I’m “discovering” the NetBSD live CD, but I learn that Distrowatch announced the damn thing in 2006. All I can say is that I’m very, very impressed.

It’s NetBSD, it boots on my temperamental test box, and not only does it have X, it has a full KDE desktop with tons of applications — the full KOffice, Konqueror, Firefox, Abiword, K3b, Krita, the GIMP, Inkscape, JuK, XMMS, — hell, just say it’s got a full KDE 3.5.4 setup and then some, and NetBSD autoconfigured for my monitor (with the VESA option) and looks absolutely gorgeous.

If the NetBSD people could someday, someway, make this an installable live CD, they’d really have something here. So far, this looks and works better on my computer than DesktopBSD and PC-BSD. I guess the one thing this version of NetBSD is missing when compared to DesktopBSD and PC-BSD is graphical package managment, but the rest of it looks and works so well …

While the NetBSD live CD attempts to configure a static IP address for you (ignore this if you use DHCP), it didn’t work. To configure a static IP in NetBSD at a terminal — and it is slightly different than doing the same thing in Linux — here’s how to do it (adapted from my similar tutorial for the FreeBSD-based FreeSBIE live CD):

My Ethernet interface, usually eth0 in Linux, is called rtk0 in NetBSD. If you’re unsure, run this command:

$ ifconfig -a

That should output the name of your Ethernet interface.

To set the static IP in NetBSD I either used the same terminal window or opened a terminal window (Konsole in the KDE menu works fine) and became root:

$ su
(When prompted, for a password, the root password is root. If you signed on as root, you don’t have to su, since you’re already root).

At the # prompt, do the following (substituting your own networking numbers, of course):

# ifconfig rtk0 192.9.200.20 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.9.200.255

# route add default 192.9.200.254
(Note: don’t use route add default gw, like in Linux — gw is not needed. As above, enter your own router/gateway address)

I also set up my name servers in /etc/resolv.conf (I used vi because I knew it would be there. You can also use any of the other KDE text editors in the live CD environment. Use any text editor you wish in its place:

# vi /etc/resolv.conf

once in the file, I added these lines:

domain yourdomain.com
nameserver 192.9.200.4
nameserver 192.9.200.2

(as always, add your own search domain and name server IPs, then save and close the file; you should now be ready to start Firefox and begin browsing the Web. Note: my connection doesn’t require use of a domain in /etc/resolv.conf)

And again, if you have a dynamic connection, ignore this completely.

Additional info: Look at this PDF, which looks like a PowerPoint presentation for some background on BSD live CDs.

OpenBSD on the desktop: Why?

Why a desktop installation of OpenBSD?

It’s a legitimate question. According to Distrowatch, among the three main BSD projects (they don’t like to be called “distros”), FreeBSD is way out in front — and is the base for PC-BSD and DesktopBSD — followed by OpenBSD and NetBSD.

And even though there are two desktop-focused versions of FreeBSD, and it’s possible to turn all three of the major BSD projects into a desktop-worthy system, the question remains: Why not just stick with Linux, with its usually superior hardware detection, vastly larger community of users (who in theory and often in practice can provide all the help you need to get a system up and running) and much larger choice of distributions?

For one thing, Linux isn’t alone on the desktop, nor should it be. Apple has a hugely popular desktop operating system based in part on code from BSD. And another operating system derived from Unix — OpenSolaris — is also inching onto the desktop with its Indiana project.

I think the competition is enormously healthy for free, open-source software, and I support that competition and choice wholeheartedly.

And using OpenBSD to build up a desktop system is just plain fun. It’s more of a challenge, and all the configuration that I’ve done and am doing just teaches me more about what makes operating systems tick, even in my technologically feeble state.

I’m no coder. I’ve never programmed anything. I just mess around with hardware and software and then write about it.

I’m pretty much compelled to do all the things I’ve done over the past year and a half. It hasn’t gotten boring.

And while I’m not going to move away from Linux, if the hardware and software cooperate — as they have on this test machine — I see no reason not to spend some considerable time running OpenBSD and seeing what I can do with it.

Again, my thanks go to all the people behind OpenBSD as well as the bloggers whose experience has paved the way for me to consider running the operating system and then to install and begin configuring it.

Going forward, I hope all of the major BSD projects — FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD — will continue to grow, keeping their documentation of the same ultra-high quality and enabling users to get more and more hardware working to the point where both server and desktop users have a greater number of choices than ever with which to get things done.

BSD update

In the past week, I’ve downloaded, burned and tried out a new version of DesktopBSD, and I also received a comment from Gerard van Essen, creator of the great FreeBSD — The Unknown Giant blog to tell me about its new URL. Sources of news for the BSD distros are few and far between, and I’m grateful to Gerard for all his work in this area.

For those who don’t know, DesktopBSD is an easier-to-use spin on FreeBSD — the latter being by far the most popular of the BSD offshoots (the other big ones being NetBSD and OpenBSD, the latter for which I also have a whole lot of admiration). All of the three main BSD distros are pretty much focused on servers. They install with minimal apps, and it’s up to you, the user, to add what you want. And they all use ports to add packages. My understanding of how ports work is rudimentary at best, but there’s a lot of software available that way, and I believe you compile everything for your specific CPU.

DesktopBSD and PC-BSD (the latter also based on FreeBSD) are two attempts — somewhat successful, I think — in bringing BSD to the desktop. I’ve installed both and used them minimally, but since I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get ACPI power management to control my noisy laptop CPU fan, I haven’t really stuck with them. The only BSD that will install to my desktop text box (based on a somewhat rare VIA C3 Samuel processor) is OpenBSD, and while I liked what I saw, I didn’t know enough to really take it where I needed it to be. I probably need that PDF book from O’Reilly to get me further down the road with OpenBSD (there’s one by the same author on FreeBSD, too).

I did see this new FreeBSD book from No Starch Press, and I highly recommend it. It didn’t really address desktop implementation, and I hope somebody else takes up that cause and writes a great book on the subject. The book’s author, Michael W. Lucas, is very good with the technology as well as an excellent writer. If I was more serious about FreeBSD on the server, I’d probably spring for the book. No Starch has another book on FreeBSD server implementation coming out soon, and that might also be worth a look.

Anyhow … what’s great about the new DesktopBSD is that it not only will install the OS, it also functions as a live CD so you can see how your hardware reacts to the system.

Mine doesn’t react so well. I did get the proper resolution in X, but just as in PC-BSD, there’s this funny little unintelligible graphic box hanging off my mouse pointer, and I also had trouble getting my static IP to work (I’ve done it before in DesktopBSD but just couldn’t get it done this time). If I can’t get networking to flow at my office (where I have the static IP), I can’t really get too far. When I did the full install of DesktopBSD a while back, networking did work, so it’s something in the live CD environment that’s keeping it from working.

Again, I’d consider running OpenBSD and building up my own desktop, but it just looks too damn hard. This great blog shows one man’s path to using OpenBSD on the desktop, and I’m just nowhere near that smart. This guy Denny White is an absolute genius. I am truly not worthy. This stuff makes Slackware look like child’s play.

A project I’m looking forward to is Damn Small BSD — taking the Damn Small Linux philosophy and applying it to BSD. It’s not ready to use yet, but I’m keeping an eye on it.

Overall, I’d love for BSD to be as good on the desktop as Linux. For servers, the general opinion is that a machine running BSD (usually specially compiled for the CPU) will be faster than most precompiled Linux installations. But it’s harder to build and maintain. But on the desktop, the BSDs — and the distros based on them — are way behind Linux. It makes you appreciate all the work that developers put into distros like Debian, Slackware, Knoppix, Ubuntu, Puppy, Damn Small Linux and the like.

I’d love for the people behind the BSDs to devote more attention to the desktop. DesktopBSD and PC-BSD are doing a lot, but I’d like to see something that compels users to try out and stick with a BSD distro.

Update: I was looking at the blogroll on Denny’s Blog, and I saw a link to OliveBSD — a live CD based on OpenBSD. I’m downloading it now, and as soon as I get some blanks (my stack of 100 CD-Rs being totally spent), I’ll boot it up and see how it works. Activity on the distro seems to have stopped in 2006 …

Quetzal is an OpenBSD-based live DVD (thanks again, Denny!). I don’t have DVD-burning capability right now, but I’d love to try it.

And yet another derivation of FreeBSD on Denny‘s page that I hadn’t heard about: MidnightBSD, derived from FreeBSD. It’s contained on two discs. And there’s supposedly a live CD image, but I couldn’t find it.