(Net)BSD newbie, some questions reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zenobody · 2015-10-01 18:26 I am a Debian user and NetBSD interests me (not to primarily replace Debian), so I have been playing with NetBSD 7.0 in the last few days (the supposedly final NetBSD 7.0 images have been generated last Friday, although there hasn't been a formal announcement yet). I have some questions, according to my current understanding (I may be wrong): * There's no UEFI support yet. [OpenBSD should have it by 5.8](https:/ /np.reddit.com/r/BSD/comments/3jccu2/native_efi_bootloader_support_for _openbsd/) and [FreeBSD already has it](https://np.reddit.com/r/freebs d/comments/2ok8a9/so_freebsd_finally_supports_uefi_and_i_cant_get/). How is the development of this going for NetBSD? * Also, [there's no USB 3.0(+) support](https://np.reddit.com/r/BSD/co mments/3hki2f/will_netbsd_70_support_usb_30/), should it come in the next release? * Will [(easy) full disk encryption](https://wiki.netbsd.org/projects/project/transparent-cgd/) come in the future? I consider it quite important for laptops. * I installed NetBSD on an old laptop. While it was compiling Xfce for ~12 hours (no binary packages yet for NetBSD 7.0 i386 when I installed it), I noticed it downloaded many files from other places than NetBSD. Thus, a mass mirroring of the distfiles folder in NetBSD servers would be useless in case of Internet apocalypse? * Why do all BSD have separate ISOs for optical media and images for storage volumes? Why not hybrid ISOs like most GNU/Linux distributions? * Why is there no ext3 and ext4 support? Is it difficult to port from the Linux kernel or is it political/philosophical? Note: I really mean why (technical/ political/philosophical/etc. reasons). I posted to /r/BSD because it would get more exposure and many of my questions can be answered by users of other BSD's. Also please don't try to convert me to another BSD. Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- raevnos · 2015-10-01 18:31 I like NetBSD a lot, but development on it is slow and new technology can take years to be supported. That's definitely a drawback to it. pkgsrc picks from a long list of mirrors when downloading source tarballs. It won't use the same one twice in a row most of the time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-01 19:53 Actually, NetBSD pioneered many concepts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- raevnos · 2015-10-01 19:59 Also, ext3/4: you can't just pull the relevant code out of the Linux kernel and pound it into netbsd thanks to incompatible licenses. So you basically have to reimplement the filesystem from scratch. That's a lot of work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-01 19:59 > There's no UEFI support yet. (...) How is the development of this going for NetBSD? [In progress](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/fa.netbsd.current- users/9FY8lM_4WkI). > Also, there's no USB 3.0(+) support There is (as you can see behind your link), but it's experimental yet. Feel free to help them debug it. > Will (easy) full disk encryption come in the future? We can't answer that without clarifications what "easy" means. Which part is too *uneasy* for you? > I noticed it downloaded many files from other places than NetBSD That's called "mirroring", basically meant to lower the load and make things faster. > Why do all BSD have separate ISOs for optical media and images for storage volumes? Because most people know which kind of media they have so they won't have to download giant "hybrid ISOs" when they only need a small one. > Why is there no ext3 and ext4 support? You can do that with FUSE. The reason why there is no kernel-side ext4 yet is that [no one has done it yet](https://wiki.netbsd.org/projects/project/ext4fs/). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zenobody · 2015-10-01 20:11 [BSD's sometimes get code from Linux](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.ph p?page=news_item&px=DragonFlyBSD-3.14-DRM-Port). Yes I know they're incompatible licenses, but it could be a "module" or something (I'm not an expert in operating systems architecture). But I guess for ext3/4 it would be harder. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zenobody · 2015-10-01 20:20 > In progress. > There is (as you can see behind your link), but it's experimental yet. Feel free to help them debug it. Nice, thanks! > We can't answer that without clarifications what "easy" means. Which part is too uneasy for you? Well I tried to do it briefly during an install on a VM, but I didn't succeed. Probably because I don't have much experience with the partitioning tool. > Because most people know which kind of media they have so they won't have to download giant "hybrid ISOs" when they only need a small one. Hybrid ISOs are giant? I tought they only had the boot "properties and files" "duplicated". > You can do that with FUSE. The reason why there is no kernel-side ext4 yet is that no one has done it yet. Ok, thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zenobody · 2015-10-01 20:38 > pkgsrc picks from a long list of mirrors when downloading source tarballs. It won't use the same one twice in a row most of the time. Makes sense. Thanks! I just thought the mirrors would have "NetBSD" in their names. I think it sometimes downloads directly from upstream. Also I don't want to seem to be bashing the devs, I just want to understand what's going on (I know you didn't mean I meant that). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-01 20:52 > I tried to do it briefly during an install on a VM, but I didn't succeed That does *not* mean it's not easy once you understood it, right? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cacatl · 2015-10-02 02:58 The Intel and Radeon video drivers are permissively licensed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Zenobody · 2015-10-02 10:15 I thought it was strange that BSD's were porting it from Linux, even if was an optional "module" or something (it would create dependency on GPL code no matter what). It didn't occur to me that maybe not everything in Linux is (only) GPL. Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derpface360 · 2015-10-09 20:12 Including rc.d! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- i_hate_reddit_argh · 2015-10-11 18:28 NetBSD is the most conservative. They wait for the dust to settle and then try to do the right thing. They're the most averse to hype.