[geeks] NetBSD/OpenBSD: practical differences

[Chad A. Chance]

I was in the "torn" situation about a year ago. I played with both and
decided to go with OpenBSD just because it felt better to me. The code
auditing procedure that Open goes through, makes me feel better, not only
are they fixing security holes, but obscure bugs as well.

I really can't comment on any "Substantive, technical" differences, though
Theo does seem like a dork at times ;-)

I think it hust boils down to personal preference, I enjoy Open more then
Net so that's what I use for server & workstation roles.

Chad

-----Original Message-----
From: geeks-admin at sunhelp.org [mailto:geeks-admin at sunhelp.org]On Behalf
Of Dan Debertin
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 1:13 AM
To: geeks at sunhelp.org
Subject: [geeks] NetBSD/OpenBSD: practical differences


Folks, I'm torn. I've been using NetBSD for a long, long time on various
architectures. I use OpenBSD for the standard uses one has for it:
firewalls, IPSEC machines, etc.

But I keep looking over at it and thinking "Hm. If OpenBSD is basically
NetBSD with security auditing, what the hell am I doing still using NetBSD
for general-purpose UNIX computing?". (And here by "general-purpose UNIX
computing" I mean workstation, webserver, DNS server, shell box, number
cruncher, etc.)

I know that, at a certain level, it doesn't matter what OS you choose; you
pick the right tool for the job. But I need some ammo before I'm really
qualified to even make that decision. So I need thoughts on this one
question:

What's good about NetBSD that makes it better than OpenBSD?

Substantive, technical answers are what I'm looking for, although comments
on the developer/user community are also important. But things like "Theo
is a dork" are certainly not important to me.

Dan
--
Dan Debertin
airboss at nodewarrior.org
www.nodewarrior.org



_______________________________________________
GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks