[olug] *BSDs - Free, Open, Net

[Phil Brutsche]

Jeff Hinrichs wrote:
> Are there any BSD users that want to comment on the differences
> between FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD? Specifically, if you were going
> to replace a DNS server and wanted to try BSD which would you choose
> and why.

NetBSD or FreeBSD.  Why?  The OpenBSD folks are as bad as RedHat about 
supporting older releases (their releases have 12-month maintenance 
timelines).

> I've been googling away looking for some wisdom but I still don't
> have a good/clear view on the differences between them.  It appears
> as though the primary difference is the kernel, with the userland
> software being fairly consistent.  Is this a correct statement?

Generally speaking yes, although for some "niche" pieces of 
functionality (ie IPsec) they all differ big time.  You'll also 
differences in the structure of the bootup scripts - Free and Net have a 
hybrid BSD-SysV style setup, while Open is pure BSD-style.

> What about the following statements:
 > 1) OpenBSD is the most secure
 > 2) FreeBSD is the most stable
 > 3) NetBSD runs on the widest range of hardware

I don't know if you've looked at an OpenBSD install lately, but the last 
time *I* did I was aghast as to the number of services running by 
default on an operating system that's pushed for it's security.

It should be noted that NetBSD runs on the widest range of *hardware 
platforms*.  Generally speaking, FreeBSD seems to have the best hardware 
  *peripheral* (ie ethernet cards, multi-port serial cards, etc) support.

> For a starting point, lets consider this a discussion for a
> uniprocessor intel/amd box with ide drives. It will sit on the
> internet naked and will be acting as a server with no workstation
> stuff (i.e. no X, etc). Running DNS or Apache/PHP or smtp/pop
> services.

They will be equivalent in terms of security and performance.

For such well-defined tasks as those you're simply not going to find one 
of them to be faster or more stable than the others - if you start 
pushing the system hard (as in, to the point where your IDE drives will 
be a big bottleneck and you need consider SCSI) you might start noticing 
a difference.

You'll have more problems with third-party software (especially PHP 
scripts!) and administrator errors (ie inadvertently configuring your 
SMTP daemon to be an open relay) than you will with the core OS, 
especially if you keep it patched.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us