OpenBSD for Starters

Name
Email
Subject
Comment *
File	Select/drop/paste files here
* = required field	[▶ Show post options & limits] Confused? See the FAQ.

Oekaki	Show oekaki applet (replaces files and can be used instead)
Options	Do not bump (you can also write sage in the email field) Spoiler images (this replaces the thumbnails of your images with question marks)
Password	(For file and post deletion.)
Allowed file types:jpg, jpeg, gif, png, webm, mp4 Max filesize is 8 MB. Max image dimensions are 10000 x 10000. You may upload 5 per post.

OpenBSD for Starters Anonymous 04/05/15 (Sun) 20:19:00 5c1f44 No.7

OpenBSD for Starters (incomplete)

This thread is for people new to OpenBSD. This post will provide a general guide on how to get started using OpenBSD.

This guide assumes that you have some experience using other Unix-like operating systems.

Introduction
OpenBSD is a minimalistic security-based operating system which was forked from NetBSD in 1995.

It is used equally in desktops and servers. The desktop installation contains X and a very simple window manager, and is based on the server.

OpenBSD has a reputation for being rather ferocious about security and just plain 'doing things right.' Amongst some, it has a reputation for being hard to use for beginners due to lack of 'easily parsed' documentation.

Installation
Installation is simple. As of this writing, the latest installation ISO for x86_64 is here:

http://mirrors.sonic.net/pub/OpenBSD/5.6/amd64/install56.iso (227mb)

Installation is explained in part by the installer. If you want a desktop, you should allow the X window system, and you should let xfce start the X system. Additionally, anytime the installer requests files, you should specify HTTP or CD. It is not wise to go without these files unless you know what you're doing.

Notable Things
By default, OpenBSD will kill any process which takes more than 512mb ram. You can modify this, however this is (currently) outside of the scope of this post.

OpenBSD uses a firewall called 'pf' (packet filter) which is regarded as one of the best firewalls, if not the best. It is extremely flexible and is worth looking into, as firewalls are a larger topic than many realize. (NOTE: OpenBSD uses a different version of pf than FreeBSD, which have syntax differences.)

Installing Packages
OpenBSD supports remote binary installations. This is OpenBSD's equivalent to FreeBSD's pkg, and Linux's yum/apt-get. Unlike some Linux package tools, pkg will verify the binary signatures for added security.

The OpenBSD pkg repository is managed by OpenBSD; in slightly uncommon cases, the packages are modified by the team for security (such as privilege separation.)

The command to add a package is as follows:


# pkg_add packagename

If you wish to 'locate' packages, you'll have to install a package called 'pkglocatedb.'


# pkg_add pkglocatedb
[post installation]
# pkg_locate firefox

Ports
Besides pkg, OpenBSD also supports 'ports.' These are inherited from FreeBSD, however they are much stricter about the security requirements.

For a basic understanding of ports, see the FreeBSD post. This post will be modified at a later date.

Updating the System
todo

Using a Different Window Manager
todo

Post last edited at 04/06/15 (Mon) 03:41:31

Anonymous 08/05/15 (Wed) 01:46:27 b7c8c6 No.112

>>110

'Why is it called OpenBSD instead of SecureBSD??'

Because for the first ~5 years of the project, it was Theo's personal rowrowfightdapowa sperg over the NetBSD coreteam's inability to get the whole source tree public because of 4.4BSD-Encumbered. The security thing came in when they stumbled across how effective it was at getting attention on clickbait sites like Slashdot.