Why do you use *BSD? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2015-10-04 21:24 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- moosepile · 2015-10-04 22:39 I sadly admit I haven't been lately. That said, I love *BSD because I'm not a fan of bullshit and stuff for stuff's sake. I fell in love with OpenBSD long ago, and if I ever get back into IT (or stop taking courses that require BS Flash/Java) OpenBSD is gonna take over my computer immediately. I'm not well versed in other *BSD systems, but I'm drawn to the "tool" mindset. It's a tool, and I use it as such. It's a good tool, like a solid hammer, not some spiny multi-use-good-for-shit-all multi-tool. Does that make sense? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sandman01 · 2015-10-04 22:51 I currently use pfsense to provide me IPV6 through a tunnel. I have configured a few other things on it as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-04 23:20 Amazing how fast any "why do you use BSD?" is misread as "why do you love BSD?". If you use your operating system for any other reason than that it helps you to get your stuff done, you're doing it wrong. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-04 23:21 I used Linux. Linux horribly failed to survive a simple update. Linux was gone, BSD was the logical next step. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gumnos · 2015-10-05 00:13 jails. Repeated experience with [LXC/Docker/etc, introduced c2008](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LXC) just left me feeling they were a batch of elements thrown together half-baked; whereas [FreeBSD's jails, introduced in FreeBSD 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD_jail#Goals) [c2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_FreeBSD#FreeBSD_4) ) and they feel well thought out, having matured for a decade and a half. Root-on-ZFS is a nice bonus. *edit: root-on-ZFS, not ZFS-on-root, derp* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EpiJunkie · 2015-10-05 01:27 My experience with the BSDs is almost entirely FreeBSD based. I would say about 60 percent of the machines running-an-OS-of-my-choosing have FreeBSD or a derivative installed; about 27 machines total. Some of the reasons I use it: * **ZFS** - Since 2010 when I built a NAS, I have had 7 drives fail with no data loss. This also includes a faulty backplane which I suspect on a lesser system would have resulted in massive data corruption. Also on my work PC, I have ZFS datasets for each of the VirtualBox VMs I run, many are Windows based. It has been nice to be able to shutdown a VM, take an instant snapshot of the VM's state, boot up, install an update, see the update borked my system, shutdown the VM, instantly roll back the snapshot, and then boot back up to my previous state in the time it takes to do a reboot. * **Documentation** - This alone got me started 5 years ago with no BSD background. * **Community** - Not sure what I can specifically say, it's just awesome. * **Ports system** - It is so nice building from source because I need a non-default option selected for some tool I need to use. Dependencies are downloaded and built automatically, and currently installed packages are checked for conflicts. This process has easily saved me hours of time. Other important aspects: * A sense of direction and purpose for the core product. * A sense of duty and dedication from the developers. * BSD license - It is really amazing to me how many businesses/devices use the BSDs. My TV, the PS3, the PS4, Netflix, VeriSign, WhatsApp, and Xinuos are just a few places where BSD is used. Bottom line for me and what drive my preference for FreeBSD is that it saves me a lot of time, more so than other OSes. All of my non- FreeBSD-based installs exist only because there is software running on them that is only/primarily built for that OS. **Is there a specific reason you are asking?** We could then direct our answers to that point. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dojikirikaze · 2015-10-05 01:31 Whenever I use Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows, it seems like the first three weeks is spent fussing around with settings to get things half working. When I use OpenBSD, things just work out of the box. The documentation is sound, the design sane. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pr1ntf · 2015-10-05 01:44 Better documentation. Plain and simple. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ursomang · 2015-10-05 02:58 Easiest way to get the latest version of OpenSSH in production? Run OpenBSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- daemonpenguin · 2015-10-05 13:33 Boot environments and ZFS snapshots. I like that upgrading TrueOS usually goes smoothly, but when it doesn't, I can just reboot and revert back to my previous snapshot. Most Linux distros don't do this yet (with the exception of openSUSE) and it's a wonderful feature. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- wobfranklin · 2015-10-05 13:47 OpenBSD supporter since I downloaded 2.0 for the first time all those years ago. Stability. Security. Excellent documentation. man pages that are accurate and up-to-date. Best router/fw platform in existence. (pf, bgpd, ospfd, relayd, etc) I've deployed over 300 OpenBSD systems over the years for use as remote monitoring terminals and routing/firewall platforms. I've never regretted a single install. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- p4p3r · 2015-10-05 16:35 Needed containers. Found jails. Stayed for ZFS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Virtualization_Freak · 2015-10-05 16:59 I keep trying different routing/firewall setups. Both hardware specific and software... I keep coming back to pfSense. Things are not 100% intuitive, but it's clean and extremely stable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Virtualization_Freak · 2015-10-05 17:01 I toyed with jails in FreeNAS and loved how simple it was to make the plugins/jails via gui and get instant access through the command line for some oddball software. I tried to setup a few LXC containers on debian and while they are currently running, I'll never use them again. It's such a pain in the ass. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- juli3n_ · 2015-10-05 17:26 >**Is there a specific reason you are asking?** We could then direct our answers to that point. Nope I just wanted to know why *BSD still used on Desktop ;) (~~'coz, I use it too, but I have no reason :D~~) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- undeadbill · 2015-10-05 18:25 Routing, firewalling, load balancing (both local and multi site), personal workstation... using OpenBSD. If I needed more choices, it would be FreeBSD. The software released is rock solid. If anything changes, those changes are documented and published *before the release*. The documentation is superior. Package management makes more sense than some other platforms. Latest support for things like Openssh, nsh, openntp, and other tools we use. When a new feature is released, it almost always is complete and production ready. If not, those reasons are documented and easy to find, even for those rare occasions I have to hit a mailing list instead of just the man page. I could go on, but for the services we need it for, it has replaced other vendors and OS's with minimal effort. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LyndonSlewidge · 2015-10-05 18:51 Installed it to learn. Kept it around because it was a pleasure to use. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapo_Rouge · 2015-10-06 07:46 Yet, unix was praised by devs since the beginning because it was fun to use, see the Art of Unix programming - Unix is fun to Hack chapter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mulander · 2015-10-06 09:58 This question comes up so often that I wrote a blog post explaining why I switched http://blog.tintagel.pl/2015/01/03/code-rot- openbsd.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- drMonkeyBalls · 2015-10-07 19:13 Mudge & Theo gave out free CDs at Beyond HOPE in 1997, and I've been hooked ever since. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3G6A5W338E · 2015-10-10 20:22 [kqueue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kqueue). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamelteto · 2015-10-12 00:46 "If you use your operating system for any other reason than that it helps you to get your stuff done, you're doing it wrong." Maybe, but one awesome aspect of FLOSS and FLOSS licenses is that you do not have to justify why you use it or what you use it for. There is no such thing as "holding it wrong". Leave that sentiment to greedy mega corporations blaming their users if the product is flawed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamelteto · 2015-10-12 00:46 Yup, "being fun" is just as good a reason as anything else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhabarba · 2015-10-12 03:14 Or to Lennart Poettering. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamelteto · 2015-10-12 06:41 Ha, now THAT is funny! And you have to be a *nix person to get it... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ironfist · 2015-10-15 11:42 Consistency, stability, performance, and security. In FreeBSD everything is placed logically and everything is well documented. Linux servers tend to have stuff scattered everywhere and documentation isn't always very good, if it exists at all. Redhat has solved some of that problem but if you ever work on a server running a different distro you have to relearn things all over again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tidux · 2015-10-19 02:06 I always hear horror stories about how difficult it is to keep a mail server running, whether based on *nix or Windows. Between spam, balky daemons, clogged queues, and lost messages, it's apparently a nightmare. I *enjoy* running my mail server on OpenBSD. It works like you'd expect, and doesn't give me any trouble. I also use OpenBSD on my sparc64 system since it's much more solid than Linux or FreeBSD on that architecture.