Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news-pull.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-ana-7.sprintlink.net!news.rns.net!news.van.rns.net!news.tvinet.com!amd40.wecs.org!herb.wecs.org!duane From: duane@herb.wecs.org (Duane Eddingfield) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs BSD Followup-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Date: 28 Jan 1997 05:09:47 GMT Organization: A FreeBSD box. Lines: 87 Message-ID: <5ck1mr$e7r@amd40.wecs.org> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <5c39sk$ddl@troma.rv.tis.com> <DERAADT.97Jan24040427@zeus.theos.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dial9.tvinet.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:154982 comp.os.linux.networking:66550 comp.os.linux.setup:94482 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:5788 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2107 Theo de Raadt (deraadt@theos.com) wrote: : FreeBSD: : My Web Internet servers. The Security, the flexability, the speed, : all beat linux. : ^^^^^^^^^^^^ : Well, this particular part is not true. I would definately suggest : that RedHat Linux has better security than FreeBSD has. Are you kidding?? One good ping will take out a RedHat box, didn't seem to bother the FreeBSD machine tho.. The same ping took out a machine built by a very respected name brand too :-) : I might know -- I've spent the last 6 months working with a group of : people to fix the many security holes that exist in BSD systems (and : all the numerous derivatives that used BSD code.... including Linux.) : We are doing this work on yet another BSD varient -- OpenBSD, it is : one of our main focuses. A few of the people I've worked with also : work on improving Linux security. I think RedHat payed attention to : these details, and it's starting to show because a few recent : advisories indicate that they already had certain holes plugged. I've only been running OpenBSD for a month or so and hadn't really looked at it in terms of security. Thanks for pointing this out. I must also add that the RedHat people may have been paying attention to security but they sure botched a lot of other things! : This is just a guess, though. It's hard to judge these things for : sure without getting the security conscious people from the various : projects together in a dark room and seeing who scares who more. : Perhaps David Holland can tell me who was more scared when we talked : at Usenix ;-) : To me, one aspect of a secure-conscious operating system is that it : ships with many holes plugged _before they become common knowledge_. : Regarding FreeBSD comparisons, OpenBSD isn't neccessarily as fast, but : well... fast isn't everything. Correct operation might matter once in : a while, too.... and more specifically that might include not having : as many security holes and weeny users breaking root and modifying web : pages. I also concur with previous comments that most people are : unable to spot a speed difference between the various operating : systems; I have heard it many times. : Instead our direction with OpenBSD has been to focus on security, : standards compliance, and general usefulness. It looks as if security : concerned ISP's like OpenBSD. Everything man-made has flaws, and some : people are willing to put up with OpenBSD's flaws in return for some : of it's benefits. And people do occasionally make the opposite : decision and it doesn't bother me. They're probably also like mustard : on their eggs (ICK!) and I don't take that personally either. Hmmm I haven't noticed any flaws in OpenBSD, as for speed, hell we've all got pentiums, even Windoze seems responsive :-| : I won't deny that FreeBSD is being used in a hell of a lot of places. : As are MVS and VMS. There's no accounting for taste (as long as you : can run emacs!) I wouldn't even think of running Usenet on Linux, it would fall over in an hour! FreeBSD has done the news server job at the ISP I work at so well that my bosses want Linux replaced with FreeBSD, even a couple of the Linux fanatics are having second thought since the upgrade to RedHat 4.0. Sounds like maybe OpenBSD could fit into the firewall job... : In other words, grab the latest copy of each... : Try them. Choose. Then (don't) buy it. (Just use it ;-) Next year, : perhaps re-evaluate if you hear enough cool things about another : system, or have too many PRIVATE bitches about the system you are : using. Amem. I don't understand why people are so unwilling to do that. : And perhaps we can all stop bitching about it though, and instead use : our systems, whatever they are, for doing some cool things. There are : people out there that have provided code to all 4 free projects; even : _kernel_ code... : So, anyone want to help OpenBSD implement CD-R writing code? I wish :] My humble thanks to all the people who make time to contribute to all the free OS's. </Duane>