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OpenBSD 2.4 released!
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
- OpenBSD 2.4 RELEASED -------------------------------------------------
December 1, 1998.
We are quite pleased to announce that the new OpenBSD 2.4 release is
now available. OpenBSD 2.4 continues along the path our developers
started on more than two years ago by providing significant new
improvements in nearly all areas of the system:
- Hardware support is improved (http://www.OpenBSD.org/plat.html)
- particularily as far as ethernet devices are concerned
eg. PCI 3c9xx/thunderlan/etherpowerII, SBUS hme/qfe/qe/be
- Security is strengthened even more (http://www.OpenBSD.org/security.html)
- a bunch more security problems have been solved since 2.3
- and some other proactive measures have been taken
- Even more cryptography is integrated (http://www.OpenBSD.org/crypto.html)
- A shared SSL library is now integrated into 2.4, and you can expect to
see more of this in the future
- ARLA client-side AFS is integrated
- IPSEC support has improved.
- Many other bugs fixed (http://www.OpenBSD.org/plus.html)
- The "ports" tree is greatly improved (http://www.OpenBSD.org/ports.html)
- The 2.4 CD ships with many more pre-built packages for the common
architectures
Those who wish to see a list of what has changed between OpenBSD 2.3 and
OpenBSD 2.4 should look at
http://www.OpenBSD.org/plus.html#24
This is a summary of the most important changes made to OpenBSD, but
even then, it is a very very long list... the section for 2.4 lists
more than 500 changes.
This is our fifth OpenBSD release, and the fourth release which is
available on our own CDROM. Our releases have been spaced six months
apart, and we plan to continue this timing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SECURITY -------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, because of our continual search for security problems,
between the creation of the OpenBSD 2.4 FTP/CDROM binaries and the
actual 2.4 release date, our team found and fixed some new security
problems (note: most are minor, and in subsystems that are not enabled
by default). Our continued research into security means we will find
new security problems -- we always provide patches as soon as
possible. Therefore, we advise regular visits to
http://www.OpenBSD.org/security.html
We would like to note that the X11 release that is included with our
CD is the 3.3.2p3 release, not the new 3.3.3 release which just missed
our CD. However, as far as we know, all of the security problems which
the 3.3.3 release is touted to fix are already fixed in the 3.3.2p3
release we ship. People who want the new features that 3.3.3 supplies
can get those by checking at http://www.xfree86.org for FTP sites near
them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- CDROM SALES ----------------------------------------------------------
OpenBSD 2.4 is also available on CDROM. A 2-CD set which costs $30USD
is available via mail order and from a number of contacts around the
world. The set includes a colourful booklet which carefully explains
the installation of OpenBSD. Four cute little stickers are also
included (sorry, but our FTP mirror sites do not support STP, the
Sticker Transfer Protocol). Profits from the sale of these units are
the primary income source for the OpenBSD project -- in essence
selling these CDROM units ensures that OpenBSD will continue to make
another release six months from now.
For more information on ordering CDROMs, see
http://www.OpenBSD.org/orders.html
The above web page lists a number of places where OpenBSD CDROMs can
be purchased from.
All of our developers strongly urge you to buy a CDROM and support our
future efforts. As well, other donations to the project would be highly
appreciated, as described in more detail at
http://www.OpenBSD.org/goals.html#funding
There are now web ordering systems for getting CDs directly from a
store in California (though they do not use SSL). The original
Canadian SSL ordering system has been improved so that shipping into
the USA will now take less time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FTP/HTTP INSTALLS ----------------------------------------------------
If you choose not to buy an OpenBSD CDROM, OpenBSD can be easily
installed via either the FTP or HTTP protocols. Typically you need a
single small piece of boot media (eg. a boot floppy) and then the rest
of the files can be installed from a number of locations, including
directly off of the Internet. The following list is a simple set of
instructions to ensure that those who install via FTP or HTTP find all
the documentation they need while doing an install (with the CDROMs,
the necessary documentation is easier to find).
1) Read either of the following two files for a list of ftp/http
mirrors which provide OpenBSD, then choose one near you:
http://www.OpenBSD.org/ftp.html
ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.4/ftplist
2) Connect to that ftp/http mirror site and go into the
directory pub/OpenBSD/2.4/, which contains these files and
directories. This is a list of what you will see:
Changelogs/ X11.tar.gz i386/ powerpc/
HARDWARE alpha/ mac68k/ root.mail
README amiga/ mvme68k/ sparc/
README.packages arc/ packages/ src.tar.gz
README.ports ftplist pmax/ srcsys.tar.gz
SIZES hp300/ ports.tar.gz tools/
It is quite likely that you will want at LEAST the following files which
apply to all the architectures OpenBSD supports.
README - generic README
HARDWARE - list of hardware we support
SIZES - recommended partition sizes
README.ports - description of our "ports" tree
README.packages - description of pre-compiled packages
root.mail - a copy of root's mail at initial login
3) Read the file README. It is short, and a quick read will make sure you
understand what else you need to fetch.
4) Next, go into the directory that applies to your architecture, say it
is i386. This is a list of what you will see:
CKSUM INSTALL.os2br etc24.tar.gz xfont24.tar.gz
INSTALL.ata INSTALL.pt floppy24.fs xlink24.tar.gz
INSTALL.chs MD5 game24.tar.gz xserv24.tar.gz
INSTALL.dbr base24.tar.gz man24.tar.gz xshare24.tar.gz
INSTALL.i386 boot.catalog* misc24.tar.gz
INSTALL.linux bsd* text24.tar.gz
INSTALL.mbr comp24.tar.gz xbase24.tar.gz
If you are new to OpenBSD, fetch _at least_ the file INSTALL.i386 and
floppy24.fs; both of which the README file lists as required for
installation.
5) If you are an expert, follow the instructions in the file called README;
otherwise, use the more complete instructions in the file called
INSTALL.i386. INSTALL.i386 may tell you that you need to fetch other
files.
6) Just in case, take a peek at:
http://www.OpenBSD.org/errata.html
This is the page where we talk about the mistakes we made while
creating the 2.4 release, or the significant bugs we fixed
post-release which we think our users should have fixes for. Patches
and workarounds are clearly described there.
Note: If you end up needing to write a raw floppy using MSDOS, look in
pub/OpenBSD/2.4/tools for the "rawrite.*" files.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- XFree86 FOR MOST ARCHITECTURES ---------------------------------------
XFree86 has been integrated more closely into the system. This
release contains XFree86 3.3.2 patch 3. Most of our architectures
ship with XFree86, even the sparc and alpha. During installation, you
can install XFree86 quite easily. Be sure to try out xdm(1) and see
how we have customized it for OpenBSD.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- PORTS TREE -----------------------------------------------------------
The OpenBSD ports tree contains automated instructions for building
third party software. The software has been verified to build and run
on the various OpenBSD architectures. The 2.4 ports collection,
including many of the distribution files, is included on the 2-CD set.
Please see README.ports for more information.
Note: some of the most popular ports, e.g. the apache web server and
several X applications, are now a standard part of OpenBSD. Also,
other popular ports have been pre-compiled for those who do not desire
to build their own binaries (see PACKAGES, below).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- BINARY PACKAGES WE PROVIDE -------------------------------------------
A number of binary packages are provided. Please see README.packages
(ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/README.packages) for more details.
We especially recommend the use of the ssh package.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- SYSTEM SOURCE CODE ---------------------------------------------------
The CDROMs contain source code for all the subsystems explained above,
and the README (ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/README) file
explains how to deal with these source files. For those who are doing
an FTP/HTTP install, the source code for all four subsystems can be
found in the pub/OpenBSD/2.4/ directory:
X11.tar.gz ports.tar.gz src.tar.gz srcsys.tar.gz
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-THANKS ----------------------------------------------------------------
OpenBSD 2.4 also re-introduces the new daemon image -- with a full
body this time -- thanks to Erick 'nemickol' Green for creating it and
Dug Song for convincing him to do so. CDROM artistic layout was done
by Fred Holliss. Ports tree and package building by Marco S
Hyman. System builds by Theo de Raadt, Niklas Hallqvist, Todd Fries,
Per Fogelstrom, Mats O Jansson, and Ryan Kereliuk. ISO-9660
filesystem layout by Theo de Raadt.
Previously we planned to split the release into a December 1 CD
release and a December 9th FTP release. The purpose of this plan was
to encourage CD sales -- for the 2.3 release the amount of FTP
installs far outweighed the CD sales and we nearly went broke again;
certainly the amount of money coming into OpenBSD from various sources
continues to be so low that our development efforts are often
"root-bound" because we cannot afford better development resources.
But we are releasing the FTP files at the same time (ie. as I type
this the ftp mirrors are churning away), and we hope that people will
think of supporting OpenBSD as suggested in
http://www.openbsd.org/donations.html
We would also like to thank all of the people who sent in bug reports,
bug fixes, donation cheques, hardware that we use. We would also like
to thank those who bought our previous CDROMs. Those who did not
support us financially have still helped us with our goal of improving
the quality of the software.