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You are here: Resources > IT Security Technical Resources Part4 > OpenBSD

OpenBSD

OpenBSD is an open source computer OS or operating system that's identical to UNIX and an offspring of BSD or the Berkeley Software Distribution company. This UNIX derivative was made, fine-tuned, and developed at Berkeley's University of California. Project Leader Theo de Raadt forked from NetBSD what he needed to create OpenBSD back in late 1995. This so-called project was quite popular among PC users at the time because of the developer's assertion that everything be open source for OpenBSD (hence the name) while offering focus on code correctness and security as well as an uncompromising position on software licensing. The Open BSD project was coordinated and managed from the Canadian de Raddt's residence in Calgary, Alberta.

OpenBSD is well-known for its pufferfish mascot and logo called "Puffy". This OS is composed of a number of security benefits that are optional or absent in other propriety operating systems. It also maintains a tradition of excellence wherein the original developers actually audit the source code for the software for possible vulnerabilities, security problems, and other such glitches free of charge, hence it's already a step ahead many other so-called free operating systems that are notorious for being buggy and badly written. OpenBSD proves that "free" doesn't necessarily mean "inferior" or "hastily made"; it doesn't follow that with a lack of profit, there'll be no incentive to keep the quality of a supposed freeware application.

It was de Raadt's intention and decision to make the source available for anyone to read at any time they wanted. With Chuck Cranor's help, he was able to develop an anonymous and public CVS server that showed the source to anyone who cared to read it—the first of its kind in the application creation industry, in fact. This practice was unlike anything followed at the time. Back then, only the development team had access to a project's source repository. To wit, OpenBSD was "open" by every sense and implication of the word. Although many people believed de Raadt's radical actions as inconvenient to contributors, they also opened doors for users to take a more active role in software development, so to speak.

The OpenBSD project follows strict rules on licensing, such that its open-source BSD license and variants remain its preferred medium of distribution. Back when it was still new, this policy adherence led to complete license audits and actions to replace or remove code under licenses deemed less than acceptable by developers. The OpenBSD kernel applications, userland programs like the shell, and common tools like ps and cat are all created under one source code warehouse, which is a common trait among all BSD-derived operating systems. Meanwhile, third-party software can be built from source using the ports tree or made available as binary packages. The OpenBSD development program upholds over seventeen standalone hardware mediums, which includes propriety products like Sharp Zaurus, the Vax, Sun SPARC and SPARC64-based computers, Apple's PowerPC machines, AMD AMD64 and Motorola 68000 processors, Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC, Intel i386, and DEC Alpha.